On Richard Osman’s House of Games this evening we were informed of the interesting fact that a moth once found inside a computer is why computer bugs are so called.
It is a good story but it is not a fact.
The word bug had long been used to denote some form of malfunction – as in a film from several years before the moth was found:
The Oxford English Dictionary has earlier yet examples:
1875
The biggest ‘bug’ yet has been discovered in the U.S. Hotel Electric Annunciator.
Operator 15 August 5/1Citation details for Operator1889
Mr. Edison, I was informed, had been up the two previous nights discovering ‘a bug’ in his phonograph—an expression for solving a difficulty, and implying that some imaginary insect has secreted itself inside and is causing all the trouble.
Pall Mall Gazette 11 March 1/1
If we are feeling fanciful we might find ourselves in the land of the Fairies where we might encounter a mischievous Welsh Bwgan up to no good.
So when the moth was discovered it was duly noted that an actual bug had been found rather than the mythical one that had long been blamed for such malfunctions.
It is a good story so it is a shame to waste it.
