Ask HN: What are software bugs called in other languages? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What are software bugs called in other languages?

#31

Post by cocoa19 » Sat, Aug 14, 2021, 5:47 AM UTC

lioeters wrote: post #11

In Japanese it's バグ ("bagu"), "a fault or defect in a computer program". A funny slang term is バグる ("baguru") - it's an artificially constructed verb that means "to behave buggily", often used to describe when a game or software glitches.

Aha, that brings back memories of Zelda's characters named Bagu and Error.

So that's what's up, Zelda II programmers were having fun with names.

Re: Ask HN: What are software bugs called in other languages?

#32

Post by timonoko » Sat, Aug 14, 2021, 6:15 AM UTC

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bugi#Finnish

There are also several verbs:

"To make a bug": BUGATA.

"To act erroneously because of a bug": BUGITTAA.

"To have habit of causing bugs or acting errorneously": BUGAILLA

Re: Ask HN: What are software bugs called in other languages?

#33

Post by high_byte » Sat, Aug 14, 2021, 7:12 AM UTC

firefoxd wrote: post #26

sharikone wrote: post #6

In Hebrew it's mostly bug (באג). However there is an official translation "teqel" (תקל). It is a derivative of a root that means "to stumble". It suggests a resolvable setback more than an "error".

Here I was thinking it was Paamayim Nekudotayim.

php IS the bug

Re: Ask HN: What are software bugs called in other languages?

#34

Post by nicbou » Sat, Aug 14, 2021, 7:25 AM UTC

jiehong wrote: post #24

In French (France and Quebec), people use "bogue" (even though they tend to pronounce it like "bug"). It means "burr", aka the spiky chestnut hull. To debug is "déboguer", which only means to debug (and not opening/removing the chestnut burr). Alternatively, "défaut" is also used (defect). Sometimes the more general "erreur" (error) can be used. However, the English word "bug" is getting used more and more (along wit…

In Québec we commonly use bug/bogue, but might pick a confusing French word in official communications, as is tradition.

Re: Ask HN: What are software bugs called in other languages?

#35

Post by Zababa » Sat, Aug 14, 2021, 7:29 AM UTC

jiehong wrote: post #24

In French (France and Quebec), people use "bogue" (even though they tend to pronounce it like "bug"). It means "burr", aka the spiky chestnut hull. To debug is "déboguer", which only means to debug (and not opening/removing the chestnut burr). Alternatively, "défaut" is also used (defect). Sometimes the more general "erreur" (error) can be used. However, the English word "bug" is getting used more and more (along wit…

I've only ever heard "bug" and "débuger", and only saw "bogue" in some publication that would also use "courriel" and the likes. Maybe this has to do with a younger generation? Quebec will probably have a bias for "bogue", as always, but in France I'd say most people use "bug".

Re: Ask HN: What are software bugs called in other languages?

#36

Post by laurieg » Sat, Aug 14, 2021, 9:09 AM UTC

I've never really thought of "bug" as being very idiomatic (at least, no more than other words).

The origin of the word "bug" doesn't come from the insect sense of the word. Bug has roots in a word "bogey" meaning devil. You still see its remnants in words like bugbear and bugaboo.

Re: Ask HN: What are software bugs called in other languages?

#37

Post by ranguna » Sat, Aug 14, 2021, 9:19 AM UTC

lvxferre wrote: post #5

I've seen mostly ⟨bug⟩ in both Italian and Portuguese. Uncommonly ⟨erro de programação⟩ (PT) / ⟨errore di programmazione⟩ (IT). I pronounce it ['bu.ge] in both languages, although the pronunciation might vary quite a bit in Portuguese; the last vowel can be [e ɪ i ə] or non-existent, depending on the dialect. It's just epenthetic, given neither language likes hard codas.

Just a note, adding an "e" at the end of "bug" when pronouncing is not a think in Portuguese from Portugal, I mostly hear it from our good friends from Brazil, and they've actually started dropping the "e" (at least the ones I work with).

Re: Ask HN: What are software bugs called in other languages?

#38

Post by ranguna » Sat, Aug 14, 2021, 9:23 AM UTC

laurieg wrote: post #36

I've never really thought of "bug" as being very idiomatic (at least, no more than other words). The origin of the word "bug" doesn't come from the insect sense of the word. Bug has roots in a word "bogey" meaning devil. You still see its remnants in words like bugbear and bugaboo.

Wait.. Isn't the origin of "bug" in computer science, a literal insect stuck in one of Turing's universal machines ?

Re: Ask HN: What are software bugs called in other languages?

#39

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Aug 14, 2021, 12:15 PM UTC

Phileosopher wrote: post #27

litoE wrote: post #15

In the USA we call them "features".

Someone really needs to make a tech dejargonizer. I'm very tired of hearing things like "best-in-class API that implements a proprietary protocol to direct network information". Something like Bullshit.js[0]. [0] https://mourner.github.io/bullshit.js/

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What are software bugs called in other languages?

#40

Post by laurieg » Sat, Aug 14, 2021, 12:25 PM UTC

ranguna wrote: post #38

laurieg wrote: post #36

I've never really thought of "bug" as being very idiomatic (at least, no more than other words). The origin of the word "bug" doesn't come from the insect sense of the word. Bug has roots in a word "bogey" meaning devil. You still see its remnants in words like bugbear and bugaboo.

Wait.. Isn't the origin of "bug" in computer science, a literal insect stuck in one of Turing's universal machines ?

I think you're probably mis-representing the famous Grace Hopper story which is often cited as being the origin of the word bug[1].

In fact, in Hopper's notebook she even writes "First actual case of bug being found". The use of the word "actual" implies that the word bug has been used before and etymologies back this up.

[1]https://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/sep9/worlds-first...