# stupid question: cookies **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 9, 2000, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-cookies/36252 "2000-10-09T13:42:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-cookies/36252/1 "2000-10-09T13:42:32Z")
I’m probably missing something that’s obvious, but why are cookies (as in the software files that identify a user on a website) called cookies? ---
**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-cookies/36252/2 "2000-10-09T14:30:36Z")
Hmmm - it doesn’t have the etymology, but [The entry for cookie](http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/cookie.html) at the [Jargon File](http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/index.html) explains what it is. The term dates back for years and the origin is lost to me. ---
**Author:** ![Kyberneticist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@Kyberneticist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyberneticist)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-cookies/36252/3 "2000-10-09T14:38:26Z")
At least it was in the early days of the web. Some browsers used to store the cookies in a file called MagicCookie, I think. The Jargon file has an entry on magic cookie. [http://www.science.uva.nl/~mes/jargon/m/magiccookie.html](http://www.science.uva.nl/~mes/jargon/m/magiccookie.html) > [@](#): > > The phrase `it hands you a magic cookie’ means it returns a result whose contents are not defined but which can be passed back to the same or some other program later. Off-hand, I’d speculate the phrase originated from the doped up '70s 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-cookies/36252/4 "2000-10-09T15:00:19Z")
“magic cookie” is the old jargon that inspired the term, however the original netscape cookie spec dropped the “magic” and simply referred to them as cookies: [http://home.netscape.com/newsref/std/cookie\_spec.html](http://home.netscape.com/newsref/std/cookie_spec.html) The page I refer people to for an explanation of cookies says that Macintosh browsers use the “MagicCookie” filename: [http://www.cknow.com/ckinfo/cookies.htm](http://www.cknow.com/ckinfo/cookies.htm) Perhaps other implementations do as well. The ultimate source for “magic cookie” seems to be lost in the ozone somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-cookies/36252/5 "2000-10-09T15:09:52Z")
C3 wrote: > [@](#): > > …cookies (as in the software files that identify a user on a website)… A minor peeve of mine is that anytime I read a description in the popular press about what cookies are, including technical-enough publications that they should know better, they always refer to a cookie as a “file.” Although I believe that IE implements cookies as separate files, other browsers do not - they keep cookie information from multiple sites in one cookie file, so that each cookie is just one entry in it. I guess the problem is that if you don’t call it a “file,” what do you call it? I’d prefer “piece of information” or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-cookies/36252/6 "2000-10-09T16:21:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CurtC \* > A minor peeve of mine is that anytime I read a description in the popular press about what cookies are, including technical-enough publications that they should know better, they always refer to a cookie as a “file.” > > Although I believe that IE implements cookies as separate files, other browsers do not - they keep cookie information from multiple sites in one cookie file, so that each cookie is just one entry in it. I guess the problem is that if you don’t call it a “file,” what do you call it? I’d prefer “piece of information” or something like that. \*\* If you want to be pompous (which is my usual preference), you could refer to a single cookie as a “datum.” Or perhaps a “snack.” ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-cookies/36252/7 "2000-10-09T17:10:24Z")
Here’s a possibility for the etymology, though I have supporting evidence. Websters Unabridged has this definition: > [@](#): > > 5 cookiespl slang : the contents of one’s stomach : what one has recently eaten > > ``` > »she got sick and tossed her cookies« > > ``` Could “what one has recently eaten” translate to “what sites one has recently visited”? This may be a bit far fetched. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-cookies/36252/8 "2000-10-09T17:16:23Z")
I BELIEVE the first use of “magiic cookie” was in the X-Windows machine authentication protocol, MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE. ---
**Author:** ![Kyberneticist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@Kyberneticist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyberneticist)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-cookies/36252/9 "2000-10-09T17:50:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JeffB \* > \*\*Could “what one has recently eaten” translate to “what sites one has recently visited”? This may be a bit far fetched. > \*\* Unfortunately the origins stretch back before its use on the web. ---
**Author:** ![Tzel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzel)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-cookies/36252/10 "2000-10-09T18:05:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kyberneticist \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by JeffB \* > > \*\*Could “what one has recently eaten” translate to “what sites one has recently visited”? This may be a bit far fetched. > > \*\* > > Unfortunately the origins stretch back before its use on the web. \*\* I think that’s the point. This older definition of “cookie” may have translated into this newer, technologically advanced definition. Although, I don’t buy it myself. I agree with **JeffB** that it just sounds too far fetched. ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-cookies/36252/11 "2000-10-09T20:50:52Z")
don’t forget about jack chick’s evil cookie. wish i had a link, though. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-cookies/36252/12 "2000-10-09T22:00:13Z")
Ask and ye shall receive. That would be the infamous [Death Cookie](http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0074/0074_01.asp).