I can believe that Iverson invented the phrase "bubble sort".  Page 217 of *A
Programming Language* (1962) says:

   The result is to bubble each item upward in the sequence until it
encounters an item
   with a smaller (or equal) key and then to leave it and continue bubbling
the new smaller item.
   In particular the smallest item is bubbled to the top.

It is consistent with his use of previously non-technical but descriptive,
picturesque, and mnemonic terms in technical subjects.  "Floor" and
"ceiling" from the same period are other examples which come to mind.




On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 8:58 AM, Kenneth Lettow <[email protected]>
wrote:

> Iverson uses the name ``bubble sort'' in 1962 [13
> <https://users.cs.duke.edu/~ola/bubble/bubble.html#Iverson>]; this appears
> to be the first use of the term in print.
>
> https://users.cs.duke.edu/~ola/bubble/bubble.html
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