Claim for origin of "Cruisazy"

[Fred Shapiro]

On Fri, 13 Jan 2006, Baker, John wrote:

>        "Software," in the broad sense of something contrasted to
> hardware, is older than Tukey's 1958 use.  For example, from the
> 2/4/1955 issue of Science (via JSTOR):  "These samples came from a
> Neolithic horizon containing software similar to that of Belt Cave
> (sample P-19) and containing bones of ox and pig as well as of sheep and
> goat."  This example from archaeology, of course, does not affect the
> claim that Tukey coined the term in the computing context.

Yes, the archaeological usage was definitely around in the 1950s, and I
think I found a 19th-century example at some point.  I was referring to
the computing sense.  Tukey seems to have been a significant neologizer,
also coining the computer term "bit" and a number of statistical terms.

Fred Shapiro


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