It is soon time to blow out the underground sprinkler system at our house. I have a small compressor to aid in the project. In order to get the compressor hose hooked up the sprinkler system I put together a contraption that includes 4 different fittings to do the job. I needed a hose fitting, a faucet fitting, a reducer from 3/4 to 5/8, and a male/female reverse fitting. It is quite a contraption, but it works.
A contraption is a device that has a specific purpose and is often overly complicated. It was used in English in the early 1800s as a blend of contrive and adaptation. Contrive means to form or create in an artistic or ingenious manner. Adapt implies to make it fit for use, often by modification.
In the movie Back to the Future (1985), the opening scene shows an elaborate wake up contraption that Doc developed. In fact, the DeLorean Time Machine itself is a contraption that Doc designed. Its time travel ability is due to a "flux capacitor", that allows the car to travel to the past or future when the car accelerates to 88 miles per hour and is jolted with 1.21 gigawatts of electricity.
In the words of Disney’s Little Mermaid, “I’ve got gadgets and gizmos a plenty.” The word contraption would not have been easy to fit into her song but is synonymous with those things. Contraption is a term people reach for when talking about various human-made bits and bobs, whether mechanical or electronic. Other synonyms include thingamabob, doohickey, doodad, contrivance, thingamajig, and widget.
Gadget refers to an often small mechanical or electronic device with a practical use but often thought of as a novelty. His kitchen is equipped with all the latest gadgets.
Gizmo means an appliance that can be ordinary or uncommon. She broke the gizmo that opens and closes the garage door. When they cleaned out the house they found all sorts of gizmos for woodworking.
Widget refers to a device placed in a container of beer to manage the characteristics of the beer's head. The original widget was patented in Ireland by Guiness.
Thingamabob refers to articles found but of unknown origin of use. He had a drawer for all the thingamabobs that had fallen or broken off various items around the house.
Doohickey refers to a thing that might be common, but you have no idea what it is really called. When the lampshade get loose tighten the doohickey at the top of the lamp shade.
Dingus is a small article whose common name is unknown or forgotten. It seems to be missing some little dingus that holds everything in place.
Doodad is an ornamental decoration whose common name is unknown. As they were building the model plane together, she asked, Where does this little doodad go?”
Thingamajig refers to something that is hard to classify. Reattach that thingamajig and the machine should work properly again. Thingamajigs can also be referred to as whatchamacallits.
A whatchamacallit is used when the name of the thing cannot be thought of right away. Often the correct term comes to one later on.
Carbonated water was developed in the 18th century but the problem was how to keep the fizz from going flat. In 1880 Hiram Codd experimented with bottles into which he inserted various contraptions to try to keep in the fizz. Eventually, he developed a bottle with a kink in the neck and inserted a marble. The pressure of the gas in the bottle pushed up on the marble, thus sealing it. The idea of it being just a lot of gas gave rise to the expression, “What a lot of codd’s wallop.” Wallop is English slang for a drink.
I now need to develop a contraption that sorts all the whatchamacallits I have on the counter in the garage and put them into proper containers. Maybe someday.
John would like to know if anyone has a sincere interest in a relevant word that he could possibly research for an upcoming column. If so, please send your requests to [email protected]. Words will be selected according to relevance and research criteria. We cannot confirm that all words will be used.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
