Ever wonder where the computer terms “[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endianness big-endian]” and “little-endian” came from?
: In the novel, Gulliver washes up on the shore of Lilliput and is ‘captured’ by the inhabitants while asleep. He discovers that Lilliput and Blefuscu are permanently at war because of differences over the correct way to eat a boiled egg – from the rounded end according to the Blefuscudians, or from the sharp end according to the Lilliputians. The supporters of the differing views were called “Big-endians” and “Little-endians.”
From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilliput_and_Blefuscu this entry on Lilliput and Blefescu].