That expression was used in a cigarette commercial in the 1960’s. In those days, unless you worked in engineering, most people didn’t know or comprehend the metric system of measurement.
That brings up some interesting memorabilia. It had to do with Dr. Grace Hopper, who invented the first computer language (“Cobol”). She was teaching an electronics engineering class at Harvard about wavelengths and time-distance measurements, a key part of communications electronics.
She perceived that the students were not able to comprehend wavelengths measurements of milli-seconds and micro-seconds. So, to emphasize her point, at the next class she brought out a 100-foot roll of rope and had the students to stretch it out from one end of the classroom to the other. Then she picked up a ONE INCH piece of string. She pointed to the long rope and said, “That’s a milli-second – this string is a micro-second”! The class was then able to understand.
Grace Hopper, who joined the Naval Reserve in 1944 as a Lieutenant (JG), spent most of her time developing the electronic computer. Diminutive in stature (compare her height to “Granny Clampett” on the Beverly Hillbillies program), “Amazing Grace” as she was known by her peers, spent unceasing labors on behalf of computer education and helped transform the way we look at data processing. She is one of those critical figures who occasionally appear in history at just the right time to influence an ongoing change and turn it unmistakably in their direction.
You run into Grace’s presence everywhere you turn in modern computing. The term ”bug” used to describe a flaw in software code traces back to 
the day in 1945 when she took the Mark II computer apart to find out why it had stopped working (the Mark II had over 500 miles of wire and 750,000 other parts)! The answer: a moth that had become caught between crucial contacts on one of the computer’s relays. The moth carcass was taped into the project’s log book with this inscription: ”First actual case of a bug being found.” This log is now in the Navy Museum.
And there you have it, the short path to linguistic immortality. Fixing computer problems would forever be known as ”debugging.”
During her time in the Naval Reserve, she advanced to Commander prior to her (forced retirement – Navy age protocol) in 1966. However, her knowledge and expertise retired as well and, in just 8 months, the Navy recalled her back to service and promoted her to the rank of Captain, then Commodore, and finally to Rear Admiral (2 stars) in 1985. Grace Hopper was the first woman to hold the rank of Rear Admiral. She retired (again) from Naval service in 1986 at the young age of 80!
Admiral Hopper remained active in industry and education until her death on 1 January 1992 at age 86. She is buried in Section 59 of Arlington National Cemetery.
The Navy, fittingly, has named its Data Automation Center in San Diego after her, and has also commissioned a new destroyer in her honor, the U.S.S. Hopper. Her broader legacy, of course, is on desktops across the world, in the form of the computers she helped make accessible to business and personal users alike.
Oh, the spiritual side of this – - regardless of age or beginnings, you can apply yourself and, with obvious God-given ability, you can help change the world. Don’t ever give up!
We credit and remember Alexander Graham Bell for the telephone – you can remember and thank the skills and devotion to duty of “Amazing Grace” Hopper for the computer!
Danny, I knew I recognized the name! I had only heard a small amount about her but she was amazing. Thank you for posting the article, making her life an encouragement to those of us who are still climbing the hill. Her contribution to so many things give pause for anyone of us to say ‘I can’t do it!’ Sue