folklore was that IBM used it as an example of a bad variable name, based on Zarathustra Q Xerxes III Here it is, in fact! Page 19: http://bitsavers.informati

folklore was that IBM used it as an example of a bad variable name, based on Zarathustra Q Xerxes III Here it is, in fact! Page 19: http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/ibm/360/os/cobol/R29-0205-0_SYSTEM_360_COBOL_Program_Fundamentals_Text_196603.pdf http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/ibm/360/os/... > But if the programmer decided to use ZQX-3 in pl.ace of MINIMUM-BALANCE because it is shorter, or because he once met a cab driver named Zarathustra Q. Xerxes III, then it is a bad name.