4 ms·

Kind of similar to the story about the origins of the word "bug" in software If this would have caught on we might have called bugs mice

• rkomorn 9mo ago
  Isn't that story more myth than reality? The history section of the Wikipedia entry for "bug" [1] suggests it predates computers by decades. 1- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bug_(engineering) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bug_(engineering)
  • bregma 9mo ago
    It's also more moth than reality. Moths are, technically [0], not bugs. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemiptera https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemiptera
    • direwolf20 9mo ago
      I don't think there's a precise scientific definition of "bug"
      • peaseagee 9mo ago
        Yes and no. There's a group called "true bugs" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemiptera https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemiptera as linked above). "Bug" in the common sense doesn't have a precise definition (small arthropod that may or may not be a pest to humans is about as precise as I feel I can get), but there _is_ a scientific definition of "true bug".
        • eloisant 9mo ago
          So moths are not bugs because they're "true bugs"? How does it make sense?
          • ktm5j 9mo ago
            Apparently they're not "true bugs", the comment you replied to isn't claiming that they are.
    • rkomorn 9mo ago
      This is the kind of response I appreciate. Thank you!
  • vidarh 9mo ago
    The actual story is not myth. It just isn't the origin of the term. Hopper's note didn't suggest the word was new, but was funny exactly because it was not.
    • rkomorn 9mo ago
      Right, good correction. It's the origin part that's the myth.
• moomin 9mo ago
  Too many people remember the “bug” story as “Grace Hopper invented the term ‘bug’” when the real takeaway is “Grace Hopper was very funny.”
  • lo_zamoyski 9mo ago
    And in colloquial speak, a grasshopper is, of course, a bug.