On Fri, 4 Sep 1998 21:44:49 +0300, Peter Popov <pet### [at] usanet> wrote:
>P.S. BTW, do you when and under what circumstances the slang "bug" was first
>used? It's an old computer freaks' joke.

Some people think Adm. Grace Hopper coined the phrase when she found a moth in
a relay in the Mark I computer.  But that "common knowledge" ignores the 
following, quoted from the alt.folklore.urban FAQ:

the OED sez
bug:
b A defect or fault in a machine, plan, or the like. orig. U.S.
1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 11 Mar. 1/1 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.

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