Ask Aunt Calamity

Dear Aunt Calamity:

I’ve heard that the term “bug” was coined after a researcher found an actual insect inside an early computer. Is that true?
- Ben G., Yonkers, NY

Dear Ben:

There are several stories about the source of the term “bug,” including Edison’s use of the term in 1878 and, of course, researcher Grace Hopper’s 1947 discovery of a moth stuck in a relay within a prototype Mark II electromechanical computer at Harvard.

However, the first widespread use of the term can be attributed to when I drove my new ‘69 VW Beetle off the road and through the wall of the computer lab at UCLA after attending a three day groove-in at UCSB with Glen Culler and Burton Fried. The term comes from the April 6, 1969 phone conversation between Steve Crocker and Vint Cerf:

Crocker: “Hi Vint. Afraid the ARPANET transmission will have to wait until tomorrow. We have a little problem."

Cerf: “Problem? What problem?”

Crocker: “Looks like a bug.”

- Aunt Calamity, Technology Maven & Advice Columnist

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