Technology
- Gadgets: A gadget or gizmo is a device that has
a useful specific purpose and function. Gadgets tend
to be more unusual or cleverly designed than normal
technology. In some circles the distinction between
a gadget and a gizmo is that a gizmo has moving parts,
whereas a gadget need not have them. For example,
a nifty digital watch would be a gadget, while an
analog watch would be a gizmo. In contrast, a device
of clever design that has no practical purpose is
called a novelty item.
The word gadget was "invented," as much
as any word is invented, around 1884-85 in New York
City. The grand unveiling of the Statue of Liberty
was approaching, and Gaget, Gauthier & Cie, the
company behind the casting of the monument wanted
some PR. The first atomic bomb was nicknamed the gadget
by the scientists of the Manhattan Project, tested
at the Trinity site.
Technology is a word with origins in the Greek word
technologia. It is an encompassing term dealing with
the use and knowledge of humanity's tools and crafts. |
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