[DaGardner]

sha1("") == da39a3ee5e6b4b0d3255bfef95601890afd80709

and 'e83c5163316f89bfbde7d9ab23ca2e25604af290' is the inital commit of git itself: https://github.com/git/git/tree/e83c5163316f89bfbde7d9ab23ca...

[2zcon]

>random three-letter combination that is pronounceable, and not actually used by any common UNIX command.

>actually

Many native French speakers use 'actually' when they mean 'currently' because of the 'actuellement' false-cognate. This looks like the same mistake but neither Swedish nor Finnish have a word that looks like 'actually' when I machine-translate 'currently'.

Any ideas?

[mannykannot]

I know nothing of Finnish, but, in poking around on Google translate, I found 'nykyinen', commonly translated as 'currently', but sometimes as 'existing'. To rephrase the sentence to say "there is no existing use..." would be a little awkward in English, but would convey the same message.

I felt that in this particular sentence, neither 'actually' nor 'currently' are necessary, but to be sure I wanted to check the context, only to find that this sentence is not currently to be found in the article.

[BurningFrog]

Reads like fine English to me. The meaning is "really". As in, he had more favored name ideas, but they were taken.

I am a native Swedish speaker though, so I may share some language blindness with Linus.

[tauchunfall]

>Many native French speakers use 'actually' when they mean 'currently' because of the 'actuellement' false-cognate.

It's also a false friend in German: "aktuell". Wiktionary states that the Swedish word is based on French or German [0]

"From French actuel, perhaps via German aktuell, from Late Latin actuālis, from Latin āctus + -ālis."

[0] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aktuell#Swedish

[GuiA]

I think you’re overthinking it. The first definition in the Oxford Dictionary for “actually” equates it with “really”, a substitution which works fine here.

1. as the truth or facts of a situation; really.

"we must pay attention to what young people are actually doing"

[pfyra]

In Swedish we have the word "aktuell" which means current (in time).

[jwandborg]

Another anecdata from a Swedish native:

"Actually" is sometimes used purely for effect (affect?) without any reflection on the meaning of it, similar to how "ducking" is used.

I'm imagining "git" wasn't his first try at finding a unique TLA, and the actually is there to signal effort spent.

[war1025]

That sentence reads fine to me. Possibly for the reasons you listed, which then lead to that usage being common in the language.

[grouchoboy]

Actually is also a false friend in Spanish.