John Cowan doesn't like the name "neoteric" and points out that:
> <http://virgil.gr/1/MicroCosmicGod.pdf>
ends with:
> "Some day the Neoterics, after innumerable generations of inconceivable
> advancement, will take down their shield and come forth. When I think
> of that I feel frightened."

Yes, but I think that story's beginning makes it clear that it is a light-hearted tale, not be taken TOO seriously:
> "Here is a story about a man who had too much power, and a man who
> took too much, but don't worry; I'm not going political on you. The
> man who had the power was named James Kidder and the other was his banker.

Yes, the story raises interesting moral issues, but I think the author was telling the story with a smile.  And again, I *like* the conceit that this notation was developed by a 3-inch-tall technologically-advanced species, and then passed on to a grateful and unsuspecting humanity.  The conceit is more interesting than reality :-).

It was hard enough coming up with a unique name.  prefix-expressions => p-expressions sounds like "pee-expressions", and function-expressions => f-expressions sounds like "f*n-expressions".  "m" and "s" are already taken.  I'm willing to entertain alternatives (got any?), but I'm not really excited about creating yet another name.  It took a long discussion to get to that one. Besides, if the biggest problem is the name, life is good :-).

--- David A. Wheeler