Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

bucky bits
     
        /buh'kee bits/ 1. Obsolete.  The bits produced by the CONTROL
        and META shift keys on a SAIL keyboard ({octal} 200 and 400
        respectively), resulting in a 9-bit keyboard character set.
        The MIT AI TV (Knight) keyboards extended this with TOP and
        separate left and right CONTROL and META keys, resulting in a
        12-bit character set; later, LISP Machines added such keys as
        SUPER, HYPER, and GREEK (see {space-cadet keyboard}).
     
        2. By extension, bits associated with "extra" shift keys on
        any keyboard, e.g.  the ALT on an IBM PC or command and option
        keys on a Macintosh.
     
        It has long been rumored that "bucky bits" were named after
        Buckminster Fuller during a period when he was consulting at
        Stanford.  Actually, bucky bits were invented by Niklaus Wirth
        when *he* was at Stanford in 1964--65; he first suggested the
        idea of an EDIT key to set the 8th bit of an otherwise 7 bit
        ASCII character.  It seems that, unknown to Wirth, certain
        Stanford hackers had privately nicknamed him "Bucky" after a
        prominent portion of his dental anatomy, and this nickname
        transferred to the bit.  Bucky-bit commands were used in a
        number of editors written at Stanford, including most notably
        TV-EDIT and NLS.
     
        The term spread to MIT and CMU early and is now in general
        use.  Ironically, Wirth himself remained unaware of its
        derivation for nearly 30 years, until {GLS} dug up this
        history in early 1993!  See {double bucky}, {quadruple bucky}.
     
        (2001-06-22)