The internet began with half a word

The first message ever sent between two remote computers was supposed to be «LOGIN». The network crashed on the third letter. The internet was born saying «LO».

It was October 29, 1969. A student at the University of California, Los Angeles, Charley Kline, was trying to connect to a computer at the Stanford Research Institute through ARPANET, the experimental network that would eventually become the internet. He typed the L, he typed the O... and the system on the other end went down. An hour later they tried again, and it worked.

Leonard Kleinrock, the professor who ran that lab, likes to point out the coincidence: «lo» sounds like the start of the English phrase «lo and behold». You couldn't begin a revolution with more humility.

Source: Computer History Museum