/gi:'goh/ 1. Garbage In, Garbage Out. A reference to the fact
that computers, unlike humans, will unquestioningly process
the most nonsensical of input data and produce nonsensical
output. Of course a properly written program will reject
input data that is obviously erroneous but such checking is
not always easy to specify and is tedious to write.
GIGO is usually said in response to
lusers who complain that
a program didn't "do the right thing" when given imperfect
input or otherwise mistreated in some way. Also commonly used
to describe failures in human decision making due to faulty,
incomplete, or imprecise data.
2. Garbage In, Gospel Out. This more recent expansion is a
sardonic comment on the tendency human beings have to put
excessive trust in "computerised" data.