true-hacker = T = tube

tty /T-T-Y/, /tit'ee/ n.

The latter pronunciation was primarily ITS, but some Unix people say it this way as well; this pronunciation is not considered to have sexual undertones. 1. A terminal of the teletype variety, characterized by a noisy mechanical printer, a very limited character set, and poor print quality. Usage: antiquated (like the TTYs themselves). See also bit-paired keyboard. 2. [especially Unix] Any terminal at all; sometimes used to refer to the particular terminal controlling a given job. 3. [Unix] Any serial port, whether or not the device connected to it is a terminal; so called because under Unix such devices have names of the form tty*. Ambiguity between senses 2 and 3 is common but seldom bothersome.

--Jargon File, autonoded by rescdsk

The name more commonly used by deaf people for the device they usually use to communicate over the telephone. Hearing people will commonly refer to this as a TDD but deaf people usually use the term TTY, which had been previously used for the older, more mechanical machines they used and became the popular name for anything allowing them to use the telephone.

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