3.778 errors (38)
Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca)
Wed, 22 Nov 89 20:36:40 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 778. Wednesday, 22 Nov 1989.
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 89 18:23:00 EST
From: <LENOBLEM@CC.UMONTREAL.CA>
Subject: RE: 3.769 "no" outranks "yes"; "it" becomes "italian" (81)
Answer to 3769 part (2)
"It" being replaced by "Italian" may seem to be a blatant error but it
reminds me of a "worm" or a "virus" story which dates back to the
times when timesharing was being implemented on main frames
and where strange things took place. Each time a user used the
text processing application package and typed a certain word, a Pac-Man
figure appeared on the screen and ate the given word and was asking
"please give me a cookie". Each time you retyped the given word
it would behave in the same way, as long as you didn't type the word
"cookie". Then the system would let you go on with your work... until
the next occurrence of the given word. A little later, a similar joke
appeared in pretty the same context but the message was "the president
stinks". You had to reply "yes" to be able to carry on with your text.
May be the "It Italian" story is a bug but it (I hesitate to use
the word) may be another insect ---> a worm. If "it" is the case,
please contact your local entomologist.
Yours,
Humorously.
Michel Lenoble
Litterature Comparee
Universite de Montreal
E-mail: lenoblem@cc.umontreal.ca