http://qs321.pair.com?node_id=153291


in reply to Re: Computers and Programming
in thread Computers and Programming

> fortune -m 'damned machine'
%% (fortunes)
I really hate this damned machine
I wish that they would sell it.
It never does quite what I want
But only what I tell it.

[download]

Christian Lemburg
Brainbench MVP for Perl
http://www.brainbench.com

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Re: Re: Computers and Programming
by Biker (Priest) on Mar 21, 2002 at 10:40 UTC

    Heh, I wasn't aware of that. I've heard and repeated that statement for more than twenty years. I guess someone was the first to state it, but I've never heard anyone claim to be the origin of the saying.

    Not even 'fortune' has a reference to the originator?

    Everything went worng, just as foreseen.

[reply]
      That quote is the source for my variation when dealing with lusers.

      Luser: This ^%$*ing computer never does what I tell it to do!

      Me: No, it does *EXACTLY* what you tell it to do. That's the problem.

      /\/\averick
      perl -l -e "eval pack('h*','072796e6470272f2c5f2c5166756279636b672');"

[reply]

      Well, there was a similar poem published in "The Reader's Digest" in (if my memory serves me correctly) in 1983. It ran something like this:

      I hate this computer,
          I wish they would sell it
      It doesn't do what I want
          Only what I tell it.
      I expect fortune was updated accordingly.

      o<

[reply]
[d/l]

In Section Meditations