[No present expansion]

In the past for some: Tool (Technology) Without An Interesting Name

(twain)

A method of connecting a scanner to various application programs so that the scanner can be controlled by the program and the scanner's output used directly by the program. An original contest to define TWAIN as an acronym led to the "Tool/Technology Without An Interesting Name" expansion which I remember actually was in use for some time. The current dictionaries and the TWAIN Working Group site now all say that it is an up-cased word that came from Kipling's "...and never the twain shall meet...", describing the difficulty of interfacing scanners and computers.

More Information

• TWAIN Working Group
• Windows Image Acquisition
• HP TWAIN Discussion