Garbage in, garbage out. It’s a term born in the early days of the computer and computer programming. The phrase, and its popular acronym, GIGO, are said to have been taken from the business strategies of LIFO and FIFO—last in, first out and first in, first out—as it pertains to inventory management.
It is also said to date back to November 10, 1957, when it appeared in an article detailing the work of U.S. Army mathematicians and the development of the computer. Army Specialist William D. Mellin explained that “computers cannot think for themselves, and that ‘sloppily programmed’ inputs inevitably lead to incorrect outputs.”