As an element of backwards rationalisation, my brain interprets "ENOTTY" as "E-NO-TTY" (Error: NO TeleTYpe available) which is the rough current meaning, rather than "E-NOT-TY" (Error: NOT a TYpewriter) which is the original meaning.

Reminds me of a more recent parking lot error. I have a parking card with attached account, and credit card for automatic payments. I also had a specific car and it's plate attached so I didn't have to tap the card.

I had to cancel the credit card so automatic payments decline, and I don't always drive the same car in which case I have to tap the parking card.

The result of all this:

When I leave the parking lot in a different car after paying manually at the gate, the message displayed is "Payment Declined: Exit permitted"

See also "lp0 on fire", an error message for generic printer problems on Linux.

https://musings.danlj.org/2019/05/15/incomplete-information....