It’s widely believed that the word “sandwich” was invented because of the behaviour of 18th-century aristocrat John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, reputedly an inveterate gambler who didn’t like to leave the card table for an activity as mundane as dinner. Accordingly, it is said, he asked for meat to be placed between two slices of bread so that he could eat without interrupting his gambling. (The bread served the additional purpose of not getting his hands greasy from the meat, which would have rubbed off on the cards.) Soon enough, his fellow gamblers began to ask the servants for “the same as Sandwich” and, later, just for “a sandwich”. Disappointingly, however, this story is most likely a myth. The word “sandwich” was actually in use before Montagu’s time, and he probably did not invent the concept of putting meat between two slices of bread, which was in fact a common practice before the Earl demanded it from his valet. But it’s a good story, and remains the best-known example of a word-origin story that may, in fact, be untrue — but is too interesting to give up.
A more recent example comes from the world of computing. On September 9, 1947, or so the story goes, the Mark II computer located at Harvard University in the United States experienced a malfunction. After a thorough examination, engineers determined that the root cause of the issue was a moth that had infiltrated the machine, possibly attracted by its light and heat. This insect had inadvertently caused a short circuit. The technical team documented this unusual incident in their logbook where they affixed the moth to the page using adhesive tape and made a notation: “The first verified instance of a bug being discovered in a computer.”
It is widely acknowledged that the incident played a significant role in promoting the adoption of the term “bug” in the context of computers, a usage that has now become its primary application. The credit for this goes to Grace Murray Hopper, a mathematician born in New York in 1906, who held the rank of Admiral in the US Navy. Hopper served as the programmer for the Mark II computer and also headed the group that discovered the moth. Her frequent retelling of the moth episode left a lasting impact on an assortment of individuals associated with the computer industry, resulting in the term becoming linked with her.
Alas, however, despite the immense popularity of this story, it’s not actually the origin of the terms ‘bug’ for computer errors and ‘debugging’ for their correction. The reality is that well before this event, these expressions were commonly employed to describe machine malfunctions, as can be seen in the records of inventor Thomas Edison from the 1870s. London’s Pall Mall Gazette in 1889 described how Edison spent two consecutive nights trying to identify “a bug in his phonograph”—”an expression,” the article explained, “for solving a difficulty, and implying that some imaginary insect has secreted itself inside and is causing all the trouble.” So these terms existed six decades before Harvard’s Mark II computer encountered its bug. But the moth in the machine is so much more fun!
I’m rather fond of orange marmalade, complete with lots of peel, and have idly wondered where the term came from. The version I believed, as a French speaker myself, was that when Mary I of Scotland fell ill on a visit to France in the mid-1500s, she was served a sweet jam-like concoction made from stewed fruit and wanted to know what it was called. During this time, in her fevered state, she overheard the French maids and nurses who were caring for her muttering “Madame est malade” (“madam is unwell”), and in her confusion she thought that was the answer to her question! Thus was “marmalade” born. Or so I believed – until I discovered the wonderful tale is completely untrue. Apparently marmalade couldn’t have gained its name from Mary’s addled state, because scholars have found earlier references to marmalade in English, with one dating back to six decades before Mary was even born.
I love these stories, though; they are so much more enjoyable than the prosaic truth!