15-letter words containing s, y, n, a, p
- university park — a city in N Texas.
- unix conspiracy — [ITS] According to a conspiracy theory long popular among ITS and TOPS-20 fans, Unix's growth is the result of a plot, hatched during the 1970s at Bell Labs, whose intent was to hobble AT&T's competitors by making them dependent upon a system whose future evolution was to be under AT&T's control. This would be accomplished by disseminating an operating system that is apparently inexpensive and easily portable, but also relatively unreliable and insecure (so as to require continuing upgrades from AT&T). This theory was lent a substantial impetus in 1984 by the paper referenced in the back door entry. In this view, Unix was designed to be one of the first computer viruses (see virus) - but a virus spread to computers indirectly by people and market forces, rather than directly through disks and networks. Adherents of this "Unix virus" theory like to cite the fact that the well-known quotation "Unix is snake oil" was uttered by DEC president Kenneth Olsen shortly before DEC began actively promoting its own family of Unix workstations. (Olsen now claims to have been misquoted.)
- vanishing spray — a substance that disperses without trace shortly after it is sprayed onto a surface, used in football to mark a temporary line behind which defenders must stand when a free kick is taken
- venus's-flytrap — a carnivorous plant, Dionaea muscipula, native to bogs of North and South Carolina, having roundish leaves with two lobes that close like a trap when certain delicate hairs on them are irritated, as by a fly: the range is now reduced, though the plants are still locally abundant.
- vindhya pradesh — a former state in central India: now part of Madhya Pradesh.
- whiplash injury — the lash of a whip.
- yorke peninsula — a peninsula in S Australia between Spencer Gulf and the Gulf of St. Vincent. 160 miles (257 km) long and 20–35 miles (32–56 km) wide.