[JdeBP]

It wasn't. Mark-Jason Dominus was the cause of that name.

I, Raymond Chen, Charles Cazabon, and Eric S. Raymond didn't use that name at all.

I, in particular, chose a name that reinforced the an important part of the concept, missed in this discussion here, that the problem was nonsensical as posed.

* https://jdebp.uk/FGA/put-down-the-chocolate-covered-banana.h...

[mjd]

Thanks! But it was actually Greg Bacon (responding to my original article) who thought of calling the phenomenon "XY problem".

[JdeBP]

That's why I went with "cause" not "coiner". (-: People took your "X" and "Y" and ran with them, and the fact that "X" and "Y" are not blatantly nonsensical together caused some of the meaning to be lost. I've watched this happen over the years on the likes of Stack Exchange.

If Greg Bacon had gone with "Bacon and Hand Drill Problem" instead, perhaps this wouldn't have become so distorted. Although I know a group of Wikipedia writers who would no doubt insist that bacon logically goes with everything. (-: