Why are you staring at my bits?

Wasted too much time staring at a putty screen because some lame production Cisco switch crapped out mid-day for no apparent reason.

Me: I've looked at all of these switches, Über. I don't know what else it can be.
Über Nerd: Yep, has to be hardware.
Me: Cisco guy wants to rebuild the VLAN in the middle of the day. Should I let him?
Über Nerd: Probably won't fix anything. Can't hurt. It's probably just bit rot.
Me: What the hell did you just say? Bit Rot. Like dirty, rotten bits?
Über Nerd: Yeah, like on some of those old magnet hard drives with all the wires that would flip. You know, some of your dirty bits get flipped.