资料来源 : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

line eater
     
         1. A {bug} in some now-obsolete versions of the
        {Usenet} software that used to eat up to {BUFSIZ} bytes of the
        article text.  The bug was triggered by having the text of the
        article start with a space or tab.  This bug was quickly
        personified as a mythical creature called the "line eater",
        and postings often included a dummy line of "line eater food".
        Ironically, line eater "food" not beginning with a space or
        tab wasn't actually eaten, since the bug was avoided; but if
        there *was* a space or tab before it, then the line eater
        would eat the food *and* the beginning of the text it was
        supposed to be protecting.  The practice of "sacrificing to
        the line eater" continued for some time after the bug had been
        {nailed to the wall}, and is still humorously referred to.
        The bug itself is still (in mid-1991) occasionally reported to
        be lurking in some mail-to-netnews {gateways}.
     
        2. {NSA line eater}.
     
        (1996-04-09)