Printer Jam

[BigMoneyJim]

The term "bug" originated with an actual bug getting into the workings of a printer. Modern computers have mice. So...

(The forwarded email I got this from said the mouse was alive but stuck; they said they freed him and he was okay.)

 

[Martha]

Gross. I have a real aversion to mice.

 

[KB]

My cat brings those home regularly. I have to do a mouth check at the door before I let him in.

Cute picture.

 

[Ol_Rancher]

I have seen the actual 'bug', a moth still caught in between a pair of contact points. The Smithsonian in Washington DC. When I saw in decades ago it was in the Hall of Technology on the mall.

 

[HFWR]

Is that a mouse in your printer, or are you just happy to see me...

 

[Nords]

The forwarded email I got this from said the mouse was alive but stuck; they said they freed him and he was okay.

So they had to feed him through the printer again, this time tail first...

Edited to add the Snopes link.

 

[Kronk]

Just for etymological correctness, the term "Bug" did not originate with the moth.



http://www.wordorigins.org/

Bug
Popular etymology (or perhaps it is entomology in this case) has it that Grace Hopper, naval officer and computer pioneer, coined the term bug for a computer defect when she discovered an insect in a malfunctioning computer. It's a fun story, and it's even true, except in that it is not the origin of the term. Hopper (or perhaps one of her colleagues) did discover an insect in a computer, but the term bug for 'defect' dates from the nineteenth century.

In 1947, computer workers on the Harvard Mark II machine at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Virginia found a moth in a relay of the machine. They taped the insect into their logbook and recorded it as the "first actual case of bug being found." This was clearly a case of the workers making a joke. Lots of bugs (i.e., defects) had been found, but this was the first "actual" bug (i.e., insect). The log book is now at the Smithsonian's Museum of American History. Grace Hopper came to be associated with the story as she was a programmer for the Mark II and often told the tale.

This was not the first use of bug to mean defect. That usage was quite common by 1947. The earliest references to the usage in the OED2 and the Historical Dictionary of American Slang refer to Thomas Edison, and the term may have been coined by him or someone in his laboratory. The earliest usage cite dates from 1878 (Random House).

 

[cube_rat]

The term "bug" originated with an actual bug getting into the workings of a printer. Modern computers have mice. So...

(The forwarded email I got this from said the mouse was alive but stuck; they said they freed him and he was okay.)

Hey, this is NOT funny. This is rodent abuse

 

[HFWR]

Yeah, let's show some sensitivity here... Mice are people, too!!

 

[Cut-Throat]

Is that Cube Rat in there?

 

[Mr._johngalt]

For some reason this made me think of "Mr. Jingles"
in 'The Green Mile'.

JG

 

[cube_rat]

Is that Cube Rat in there?

I feel like that mouse in that picture with my career. One big freaking paper jam. Can't move forward, too scared to roll back...

 

[Jarhead*]

I feel like that mouse in that picture with my career.  One big freaking paper jam.   Can't move forward, too scared to roll back...

Cube: You have a great sense of humor. Keep it, as it will serve you well in the future.

 

[HFWR]

Agreed, a sense of humor is invaluable...

 

[SteveR]

I feel like that mouse in that picture with my career.  One big freaking paper jam.   Can't move forward, too scared to roll back...

Sometimes you just need a little perspective.