Magic word
Magic words are often nonsense phrases used in fantasy fiction or by stage magicians. Frequently such words are presented as being part of a divine, adamic, or other secret or empowered language. Certain comic book heroes use magic words to activate their powers. Magic words are also used as "Easter eggs" or cheats in computer games, other software, and operating systems. (For example, the words "xyzzy", "plugh", and "plover" were magic words in the classic computer adventure game "Colossal Cave Adventure".) Invocations of magic. Examples of traditional and modern magic words include: Magic words in fiction. Craig Conley , a scholar of magic, writes that the magic words used by conjurers may originate from "pseudo-Latin phrases, nonsense syllables, or esoteric terms from religious antiquity", but that what they have in common is "language as an instrument of creation". Magic words in technology. Software like MediaWiki uses "magic words" to make system information available to templates and editors, such as <nowiki>13:05:48</nowiki>, which displays the server time: 13:05:48, see . Hexadecimal "words" used in byte code to identify a specific file or data format are known as magic numbers. "The Magic Words are Squeamish Ossifrage" was the solution to  a challenge ciphertext posed by the inventors of the RSA cipher in 1977. Manners. The term "magic word" may also refer to the word "please" when used by adults to teach children manners: <poem>"Gimme ketchup right now!" "What's the magic word?" "Sorry. May I have some ketchup, "please"?"</poem> The single word changes an imperative order into a conditional request, concisely communicating "Do as I say, if it "pleases" you."