Computer Proverbs

[Dennis R. Preston]

>I have also seen Big and Little Indian used by non-native speakers
>(in published documentation, in fact) who know the computer details
>verry well. Don't "Pfaugh" too quickly.

dInIs



>"James A. Landau" <JJJRLandau at AOL.COM> writes [irritating MIME artefacts
>removed]:
>
>>>>>>
>big-endian versus little endian:
>a term picked up from Gulliver's Travels.
>Describes whether numbers are stored in a computer high-end first or low-end
>first (a headache in certain types of programming)
><<<<<
>
>I have seen these terms as "big Indian" and "little Indian", presumably
>thanks to people who heard them with no idea of where they came from or the
>details of what they referred to. Pfaugh!
>
>Yes, yes, dInIs et al., prenasal raising could have been involved. But I
>don't recall that there was any reason or need to invoke it when simple
>ignorance sufficed.
>
>BTW, I would not call this (and some other terms James cites) a proverb,
>but rather a term, an expression, a piece of jargon, a specialized lexical
>item.
>
>-- Mark A. Mandel

--
Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736