where does BIG/LITTLE endian come from???

[Paul H. Hargrove]

In article <11062.on.Wed,.10.Apr.91.07:26:45.EDT. at sct60a.sunyct.edu> sweetmr at SCT60A.SUNYCT.EDU (michael sweet) writes:
>
>> Now for the real important question:
>> Where did the term Big-Little Endian come from?  What is the folklore
>> behind this jargon ?
>
>This one is a groaner:
>
> A number is big-endian if its end (last byte) is on the bigger address,
>and little-endian if its end is on the littler address....  <groan>
>
>Stupid, but easy to remember.  I don't know who thought this one up.....
>
> -Mike

This is the correct meaning of the terms, but does not tell where the
terms came from, which is a much better story.

This is what I was told:
The terms refer to two political factions in _Gulliver's Travels_ who
debate over which end eggs should be cracked at.  They were, of course,
known as Big-endians and Little-endians.  The appearence of these two
groups in _Gulliver's Travels_ is a satire of the British Parliament.
The use of the terms in computer jargon comes not only from the obvious
applicability of the terms, but from the urge to make commentary as
Jonathan Swift (author of _Gulliver's Travels_) did.  The fun is now
being poked, not at rival political parties, but at rival processor
manufacturers (originally Intel and Motorola, I assume.)

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