Origin of 'Straight 8' name

[William Donzelli]

> Could be--but I was pointed out that "straight eight" was an automotive
> term familiar to the laity that pre-dated DEC by a goodly number of
> years.  We live in a world dominated by automobile marketing.

Some points to ponder:

The term Straight-9 is basically never heard when referring to the
PDP-9 and not a PDP-9/L.

The term "Winchester disk" is another example of name coined after
another deeply embedded cultural term having nothing to do with
computing.

--
Will