it's not a bug, it's a feature
- idiom
- Jargon
:
no es un error, es una característica
- Users complained about the confusing menu, but support replied, 'it's not a bug, it's a feature.'
Examples
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When the app crashed, the developer said, 'It's not a bug, it's a feature!'
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When the screen turns upside down, the developer insists it's not a bug, it's a feature.
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Every time the clock resets at midnight, they say it's not a bug, it's a feature.
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Don't worry, 'it's not a bug, it's a feature'!
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Users complained about the confusing menu, but support replied, 'it's not a bug, it's a feature.'
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When the screen turns upside down, the developer insists 'it's not a bug, it's a feature.'
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Every time the clock resets at midnight, they say 'it's not a bug, it's a feature.'
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
it's + not + a + bug, + it's + a + feature
The lexical meanings of 'bug' (a defect) and 'feature' (a design element) together with the contrastive pattern 'it's not X, it's Y' let a learner infer that the speaker is reframing a perceived flaw as intentional. However, the ironic, humorous and domain-specific pragmatic use in software contexts (downplaying or justifying faults) is not fully predictable from the parts alone for a B1 learner without exposure.
Etymology
It's not a bug, it's a feature comes from people who make computer programs. When a program does something strange they would joke that it is not a bug, a 'mistake', but a feature, something 'meant to be', so today people use the phrase to jokingly say a problem is actually on purpose.