In Britain, Ernie is not only a man’s nickname. It is also the name of the machine that picks the winning numbers for Premium Bonds, a government savings scheme where you do not collect ordinary interest. Your bond is put into a prize draw instead. ERNIE stands for Electronic Random Number Indicating Equipment (the middle words have shifted a little over time). The letters were chosen on purpose so the machine would have a friendly human name, Ernie, the short form of Ernest. Though actually, people talk about it as if it were a person: “Ernie picked my number.” There have been several machines, but the nickname stuck. Outside the UK almost nobody needs this sense; inside it, older savers know Ernie the way other countries know a lottery machine.