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Glitch


A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system. It is often used to describe a transient fault that corrects itself, and is therefore difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as among players of video games, although it is applied to all types of systems, including human organizations and nature. There is no consensus on the exact difference between a glitch and a bug, but in general video game culture, a glitch is sometimes defined as an error with an only slightly game affecting nature, by altering a game's visuals, audio or mechanics possibly temporarily, while a bug would be a genuine functionality-breaking problem. Alex Pieschel, writing for Arcade Review, said:

There is currently no real consensus on the difference between the terms “glitch” and “bug.” In general internet nomenclature, both words refer to errors that work against authorial intent, but “bug” is often cast as the weightier and more blameworthy pejorative, while “glitch” suggests something more mysterious and unknowable inflicted by surprise inputs or stuff outside the realm of code. Often the terms are used interchangeably.

Some reference books, including Random House's American Slang, claim that the term comes from the German word glitschen ("to slip") and the Yiddish word gletshn ("to slide or skid"). Either way it is a relatively new term. It was first widely defined for the American people by Bennett Cerf on the June 20, 1965 episode of What's My Line as "a kink... when anything goes wrong down there [Cape Kennedy], they say there's been a slight glitch." John Daly further defined the word on the July 4, 1965 episode of the same show, saying that it's a term used by the Air Force at Cape Kennedy, in the process of launching rockets, "it means something's gone wrong and you can't figure out what it is so you call it a "glitch". Later, on July 23, 1965, Time Magazine felt it necessary to define it in an article: "Glitches—a spaceman's word for irritating disturbances." In relation to the reference by Time Magazine, the term has been believed to enter common usage during the American Space Race of the 1950s, where it was used to describe minor faults in the rocket hardware that were difficult to pinpoint.


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