cookie monster: n. [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 time-sharing 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.
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