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ERNIE

Posted: December 1st, 2018, 6:50 pm
by XFool
Can anybody help?

Premium Bonds. ERNIE.

Everybody(?) knows that ERNIE stands for "Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premium_Bond#ERNIE

But I still get this nagging feeling that, in the possibly more grammatically correct 1950s, ERNIE originally stood for "Electronic Random Number Indicating Equipment".

Am I imagining this?

Re: ERNIE

Posted: December 1st, 2018, 8:39 pm
by PinkDalek
XFool wrote:

But I still get this nagging feeling that, in the possibly more grammatically correct 1950s, ERNIE originally stood for "Electronic Random Number Indicating Equipment".

Am I imagining this?


Apparently you are not imagining it:

Science Museum Group Collection http://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk/ ... r-selector

Extract only:

ERNIE I (Electronic Random Number Indicating Equipment), 1957

Re: ERNIE

Posted: December 1st, 2018, 10:10 pm
by scotia
I can only add that whether it is Indicating or acting as an Indicator, it seems to have had no desire to generate the string of numbers on my one premium bond that was purchased in the 1950s.
Maybe I should donate my certificate to keep it company in the Science Museum.

Re: ERNIE

Posted: December 1st, 2018, 11:08 pm
by XFool
PinkDalek wrote:Apparently you are not imagining it:

Science Museum Group Collection http://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk/ ... r-selector

Extract only:

ERNIE I (Electronic Random Number Indicating Equipment), 1957

Oh fantastic! Thanks PD.

So I did remember correctly from all those years ago. Now if only I could remember what I was doing yesterday... :?

I wonder how correct my memory(?) is of how Premium Bonds came about? - People were pressing for a national lottery; a committee of the usual suspects was formed to look into the matter; it was the 1950s so the church amongst others was very much agin it; the committee came back with a "No", but had an interesting compromise suggestion...

Re: ERNIE

Posted: December 2nd, 2018, 12:03 pm
by chas49
PinkDalek wrote:
XFool wrote:

But I still get this nagging feeling that, in the possibly more grammatically correct 1950s, ERNIE originally stood for "Electronic Random Number Indicating Equipment".

Am I imagining this?


Apparently you are not imagining it:

Science Museum Group Collection http://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk/ ... r-selector

Extract only:

ERNIE I (Electronic Random Number Indicating Equipment), 1957


Although NS&I say "

Who is ERNIE?
Our Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment, or ERNIE, was invented by one of the original Bletchley Park code breakers in 1956. Since then, he’s generated the numbers for 419 million tax-free prizes worth approximately £18.8 billion.

https://www.nsandi.com/ernie

So who is right and who is wrong? The Wikipedia entry quotes the NS&I source, whilst the Science Museum site is just a statement without any published citation. On the other hand, you might tend to believe the Museum over a financial website. This could be a source of endless pedantic fun :)

Re: ERNIE

Posted: December 2nd, 2018, 12:08 pm
by XFool
chas49 wrote:Although NS&I say "

Who is ERNIE?
Our Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment, or ERNIE, was invented by one of the original Bletchley Park code breakers in 1956. Since then, he’s generated the numbers for 419 million tax-free prizes worth approximately £18.8 billion.

https://www.nsandi.com/ernie

So who is right and who is wrong? The Wikipedia entry quotes the NS&I source, whilst the Science Museum site is just a statement without any published citation. On the other hand, you might tend to believe the Museum over a financial website. This could be a source of endless pedantic fun :)

On this thread, possibly. But I was just interested in whether it had been changed over the years.

Perhaps I should have posted elsewhere? :roll:

Re: ERNIE

Posted: December 2nd, 2018, 12:21 pm
by PinkDalek
chas49 wrote:This could be a source of endless pedantic fun :)


ERNIE II is also described by the Science Museum as Electronic Random Number Indicating Equipment but, when they get to ERNIE 3, they describe it as Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment:

https://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk ... r-selector
https://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk ... tor-equipm

Also in the Museum:

https://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk ... m-bond-mug

Missing apostrophe alert but correct in the narrative itself.

Re: ERNIE

Posted: December 3rd, 2018, 10:56 am
by yorkshirelad1
XFool wrote:Can anybody help?

Premium Bonds. ERNIE.

Everybody(?) knows that ERNIE stands for "Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premium_Bond#ERNIE

But I still get this nagging feeling that, in the possibly more grammatically correct 1950s, ERNIE originally stood for "Electronic Random Number Indicating Equipment".

Am I imagining this?


Every time I read this thread, I am reminded of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e1xvyTdBZI

Re: ERNIE

Posted: December 8th, 2018, 7:52 pm
by stewamax
... and it was Postmaster General Ernest Marples who ceremonially switched it on

Re: ERNIE

Posted: December 11th, 2018, 8:49 am
by bungeejumper
Fastest milkman in the west, wasn't he?

BJ

Re: ERNIE

Posted: February 5th, 2019, 5:34 pm
by marronier
With the modern obsession of verbosity ,using several words where one sufficed previously, I look forward to Ernie becoming known as the "Automatic Electronically Powered Random Chance Numeric Selection Equipment Machine " , or for shortened to AEPRCNSEM .