The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

dread high bit disease

    A condition endemic to PRIME (also known as
   "PR1ME") minicomputers that results in all the characters
   having their high bit (0x80, see meta bit) ON rather than
   OFF.  This complicates transporting files to other systems and
   talking to true 8-bit devices.  Folklore had it that PRIME
   adopted the convention in order to save 25 cents per serial
   line per machine; PRIME old-timers, on the other hand, claim
   they inherited the disease from Honeywell via customer
   NASA's compatibility requirements and struggled heroically to
   cure it.  Whoever was responsible, this probably qualifies as
   one of the most cretinous design tradeoffs ever made.  A few
   other machines have exhibited similar brain damage.

   [Jargon File]

   (2002-04-09)