Today I was in the middle of a conversation and hit a proverbial wall. I needed a word to describe a potential product that I’ve been working on. The product is still in R&D and still ‘under wraps’ so I didn’t want to make the mistake of using it’s name. I needed something else to call it, but the word I normally would have used in a situation like this, widget, has been de-definitionized. What I mean to say is that the old definition that I’ve lived with for my whole life has been replaced by a new one. The new definition, while now only adopted by tech savvy geeks such as myself, does not allow for the use of the old definition in most conversations.

Definitions

Old definition: widg-et (wĭj’ĭt); an unnamed or hypothetical manufactured article

New definition: widg-et (wĭj’ĭt); an element that runs on a social networking site or a computer users desktop that provides useful and timely information Continue Reading »