Two quick housekeeping matters
Comment spammers have taken an unusual interest in the Mail Type Select plug-in. So I’ve put comments on the “hold until approved” setting as a result. Apologies. However, anyone not selling Viagra or remortgage financing will have their comment approved ASAP.
I’ve also added “chicklets” on the right for the XML news reader feed and the R|mail “news in your inbox” service.
BTW, what’s the etymology or derivation of the word, “chicklet”? Does anyone know?
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October 6th, 2005 at 2:13 am
Chicklet/chiclet is a reference to the gum. (The first computer-related usage I’m aware of is the PCjr’s wireless chiclet keyboard.) Wikipedia says the gum derives its name from chicle, “the substance from which chewing gum was traditionally made.”
October 6th, 2005 at 6:52 am
Thanks, Dan. But I still don’t get it.
How do the gum, a keyboard and a small graphic relate to each other? I see that it is the same word, but I don’t understand why. Did the keyboard look like a piece of gum? Does the gum look like the graphic?
October 11th, 2005 at 6:56 am
It’s a distinctive-looking piece of gum; a small white square with a hard shell. The PCjr keys looked very much like the gum.
Once ‘chiclet’ was established for use in reference to the keyboard, it lost its association with the gum. Since not everyone knew why the keyboard was referred to as a chiclet keyboard, sometimes they assumed it was the labels, not the keys, that were being referred to. If you look at this close-up of the keyboard, you can (vaguely) see the resemblance to the type of graphics referred to that way.
October 11th, 2005 at 12:09 pm
Excellent. Now I understand! Thanks for the explanation and the picture.
October 18th, 2005 at 5:59 pm
I keep coming back to this post… anyway, saw suggested on Lifehacker today that a Chiclet package makes a cheap iPod nano case, and thought it might amuse you. And it’s only a little off topic.