nines
n.— «
If you take 2600 terminals, each with a reliability of three nines and
you figure it out, you find that the entire system probably is on the order…
» —by U.S. Congress Technical Advisory Panel on the Digital Data Communications Network: Hearings , 1981. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
An editor with a large database company is tussling with colleagues over the proper use of the words comprise and composed of. She believes the correct usage would be: The alphabet comprises 26 letters or The alphabet is composed of 26 letters...
A listener who works with computers asked about the difference between premise and premises, especially when it comes to the idea of on- or off-premises computing. Going back to the 1600’s, the term premises has meant a “location”...
