[from the children's TV program Sesame Street] Any of a family of
early (1970s) hacks reported on {TOPS-10}, {ITS}, {Multics}, and
elsewhere that would lock up either the victim's terminal (on a
timesharing machine) or the {console} (on a batch {mainframe}),
repeatedly demanding "I WANT A COOKIE". The required responses ranged
in complexity from "COOKIE" through "HAVE A COOKIE" and upward.
Folklorist Jan Brunvand (see {FOAF}) has described these programs as
urban legends (implying they probably never existed) but they
existed, all right, in several different versions. See also {wabbit}.
Interestingly, the term cookie monster appears to be a {retcon}; the
original term was {cookie bear}.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {cookie bear}{wabbit}]