YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY

Domain	Definition
Computing	Your mileage may vary cav. [from the standard disclaimer attached to EPA mileage ratings by American car manufacturers] 1. A ritual warning often found in Unix freeware distributions. Translates roughly as "Hey, I tried to write this portably, but who _knows_ what'll happen on your system?" 2. More generally, a qualifier attached to advice. "I find that sending flowers works well, but your mileage may vary.". Source: Jargon File.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Specialty Definition: Your mileage may vary

Your mileage may vary is a truism, frequently abbreviated in e-mails and newsgroup postings as YMMV:

It may work differently in your situation.
It may work differently on your computer.
This is just my opinion/taste, your opinion/taste may be different. "It's a very popular name. For that reason alone I wouldn't choose it. It's 'trendy'. YMMV, of course."

The origin of the phrase dates from the early 1970s when the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began to rate passenger automobiles on their fuel economy. The first ratings were based on measurements of tailpipe emissions in laboratories, not on road testing, and consumers often observed significant differences between the EPA mileage figures and their actual experience. Automakers whose products had favorable EPA numbers bragged of them in their television commercials, but an announcer would usually disclaim, "Your mileage may vary," perhaps so that the automakers could avoid possible claims of false advertising.

External link

US EPA site on gas mileage

Alternative Orthography: YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY

Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

59 4F 55 52 4D 49 4C 45 41 47 45 4D 41 59 56 41 52 59

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01011001 01001111 01010101 01010010 00100000 01001101 01001001 01001100 01000101 01000001 01000111 01000101 00100000 01001101 01000001 01011001 00100000 01010110 01000001 01010010 01011001

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#89 &#79 &#85 &#82 &#32 &#77 &#73 &#76 &#69 &#65 &#71 &#69 &#32 &#77 &#65 &#89 &#32 &#86 &#65 &#82 &#89

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

0059 004F 0055 0052 004D 0049 004C 0045 0041 0047 0045 004D 0041 0059 0056 0041 0052 0059

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY

Specialty Definition: YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY

Computing