Query: "file 13" (throw sth. away)

[James A. Landau]

I'm reasonably certain I heard both "file 13" and either "round file" or
"circular file" in elementary school in the late 1950's.  I seem to recall one
teacher who consistently used at least one of those expressions .

Why "13"?  Because 13 is the unluckly number, and it's easy to make a mental
transfer between "unlucky" and "oblivion"---other ADS-L members have suggested
such transfers already.  By the way, why do so many buildings lack a 13th
floor while nobody seems to mind being in a building on 13th Street?

I can state with some confidence that I first became aware of "bit-bucket" (a
mythical place to which missing data disappears, sort of a wastebasket for
computer data) in late 1969, when I first reported to the Pentagon.  There was a
standing joke that my supervisor Major Hodge had with a straight face put in
a written requisition for a bit bucket.

             - Jim Landau