Hurrah for the Lowly BUG

Hurrah for the Lowly BUG Hurrah for the Lowly BUG Hurrah for the Lowly BUG By Maeve Maddox When I lived in England, my colleagues quickly taught me that I must say insect (not bug) unless I specifically meant bed-bug. In the U.S., bug applies to every conceivable type of insect. Bug also does duty as both noun and verb in many contextsand not only in the U.S. NOTE: When I pick up quotations from the web, I dont edit them. Police bugged a safe house where Rosemary West stayed before she was charged with murder but she said nothing that incriminated herself, Winchester Crown Court was told yesterday. Will Bennett in The Independent (UK) I dont think surround sound headphones is a gimmick or only for the hardcore gaming i recenlty brought a pair so i can watch a full hd movvie with surround wuthout bugging the neighbours when a car blows up at 3 in the morning. Australian Forum user A bug tracking system is a software application that is designed to help quality assurance and programmers keep track of reported software bugs in their work. It may be regarded as a sort of issue tracking system. Wikipedia The most important part of reporting a bug is giving the programmer the ability to duplicate the bug on his machine. If we cannot find a bug, we cannot fix it. tech advice site Someone needs to put a bug in Coach Gs ear about this guy comment on sports blog They say the spell that he gets under From double-barrelled thunder makes his Eyes bug out like hes insane song lyrics The word bug as applied to scary insects probably derives from M.E. bugge something frightening, scarecrow, a meaning obsolete except in bugbear. The bogey-man [boogy-man in my family] is related. The words application to insects may have been influenced by an Old English word meaning beetle. Bug as a Noun bug defect in a machine may have been coined by Thomas Edison. jitterbug a swing dance of the 1930s. Also used as a verb. humbug - trick, joke, hoax. Dates from 18th century student slang and no one says it anymore. However, if youve read or seen A Christmas Carol by Dickens, you know the word. Bug as a Verb The verb to bug, equip with a concealed recording device entered the language as long ago as 1919. debug remove defects from a machine or software to bug meaning to annoy dates from 1949. to bug meaning to bulge dates from 1870s and may derive from a variant pronunciation of the word bulge. bug off go away! 1950s; derived from British slang bugger off, Bug as a Suffix The suffix -bug added to a word can create a noun meaning a person obsessed with Firebug, a fire-setter dates from 1841. Shutterbug, picture-taking enthusiast, 1940. litterbug irresponsible person who drops trash anywhere first recorded 1947, but the verb littering came later, in 1960. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 Classes and Types of PhrasesDisappointed + PrepositionWhat the heck are "learnings"?