When you picture a widget

what is your mental image?

[suzyvirtual]

I always "see" widgets as being kinda like an oversized nut and bolt. About the size of a coffee can. With the nut bit being in the shape of an equilateral triangle and the whole thing being made out of lightweight but dense foam in a primary color....

[iamlost]

The image is the song or the song is the image of any Gadget, Gizmo, Widget, etc.:

Marvelous Toy - Tom Paxton

When I was just a wee little lad Full of health and joy
My father homeward came one night And gave to me a toy
A wonder to behold it was with many colors bright
And the moment I laid eyes on it. It became my hearts delight

It went zip when it moved, bop when it stopped and whir when it stood still
I never knew just what it was and I guess I never will

The first time that I picked it up I got a big surprise
For right on the bottom were two big buttons that looked like big green
eyes.
I first pushed one, then the other, then I twisted its lid
And when I put it down again, here is what it did:

It went zip when it moved, bop when it stopped and whir when it stood still
I never knew just what it was and I guess I never will

It first marched left, then marched right, then marched under a chair.
And when I looked where it had gone, it wasn't even there
I started to cry, but my daddy laughed for he knew that I would find
When I looked around, my marvellous toy, just a'chugging from behind.

[Leosghost]

I first heard it performed by Val Doonican ( he of the "jumpers" )..always like the song ..and wanted one of the toys ..

Personally I see a "widget" as a peice of torus shaped metallic plasticene..

We did have a yorkshire terrier called "Widget" for 14 years till he died in 2000.

[Hawkgirl]

I see it as the little plastic thing that holds the wedges for the game Trivial Pursuit. We called it a 'widget' in our household, and the little wedges 'wedgits'.

[fidibidabah]

Honest to god?

I picture a small fuzzy white creature, much like the 'soot' creatures from Spirited Away, but with white fur. Maybe it came from somewhere else? If I can find a picture I'll post it :)

[gamiziuk]

I picture a small fuzzy white creature, much like the 'soot' creatures from Spirited Away, but with white fur. Maybe it came from somewhere else? If I can find a picture I'll post it :)

I thought that was a magwai?

[garyr_h]

I think of tiny Umpa Lumpas (or however they are spelled).

[graywolf]

Seems a widget is like Harry Potter bogart, different for everyone ...

Mine looks like a metalic cube about the size of a toaster.

[vkaryl]

Oh - my - gosh.... I thought I was the only one who saw widgets as the marvelous toy! I loved the songs of the "folk song era", and that was one of my very favorites.... Burl Ives maybe did it best, though even (um? Smothers Brothers?) was fun....

[Edit: HG, around here, the TP stuff is "doohickies" and the "doohicker".... and my husband refuses to play because I always win.]

[vkaryl]

Come to think on it s'more.... what more marvelous widget could there be than a tribble? (Heh, same era. Yup - I'm OLD.)

[HelenDev]

Isn't it something that lives at the bottom of a beer can?

[digitalghost]

>> Isn't it something that lives at the bottom of a beer can?

I thought bad pickup lines lived at the bottom of beer cans?

I always picture that puzzle cube from the Hellraiser series but for some reason, the Jetsons always come to mind as well. Must be the cogs and sprockets thing.

[sullen]

I always picture the thing at the bottom of John Smiths beer (maybe its just a UK thing?).

Its a very boring round bit of plastic - i know because I opened a can once.

[Webwork]

Wingnuts

I can't help but imagine wingnuts.

Nuts with wings, eh?

[gamiziuk]

Wingnuts
I can't help but imagine wingnuts.

Nuts with wings, eh?

Don't forget, there are RIGHT wingnuts and LEFT wingnuts, but that's a discussion for another thread...

;)

[TedM]

LOL! What a great topic! I thought everyone "knew" that a widget looked like a thingamabob!

[trillianjedi]

I thought everyone "knew" that a widget looked like a thingamabob!

You're getting mixed up - only blue widgets look like thingamabobs.

Shiny Green widgets look like silk hankerchiefs from Hong Kong.

TJ

[Milamber]

Shiny Green widgets look like silk hankerchiefs from Hong Kong.

I always thought they looked like whatyamacallits.

The red widgets on the other hand look like poofy clown noses.

[grelmar]

Hmmm, well, I remember once being told that a Widget was an actual turn of the century (erm, late 1800s early 1900s) patented invention. It's the little plastic (originally metal) keeper on the end of a shoelace that keeps it from fraying.

I can't remember where I heard that, and I can't find any supporting evidence for that story.

Nonetheless, a Widget is the little keeper on the end of your shoelace that keeps it from fraying. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just wrong ;)

_{I reject your reality and substitute my own}

[lawman]

>>a Widget is the little keeper on the end of your shoelace that keeps it from fraying.

aiglet
n 1: metal or plastic sheath over the end of a shoelace or ribbon.

I guess that makes an aiglet a widget.

[mivox]

I have a Fuzzy Blue Widget at home. *I* know exactly what it looks like.

[digitalghost]

Thought about the fuzzy blue widget too, but somehow, saying "I think about Mivox's widget" while apropos, didn't seem appropriate... ;)

[vkaryl]

*laughing* DG, you just cracked me up completely!

[mivox]

Well vkaryl, if you knew what my Fuzzy Blue Widget looked like, you'd think about it too! ;)

[lZakl]

I thought a widget was the thing inside CD and DVD cases that make you look like a crook when you leave Wal-Mart by setting off the security device... huh.. go figure.

[vkaryl]

*snicker* mivox, you just do not know how very fertile my imagination is....

[httpwebwitch]

a widget is a metal round thing with two protruding rods that swivel, and a plastic handle like a bicycle grip

[mivox]

mivox, you just do not know how very fertile my imagination is....

See? You haven't even seen it, and you can't help but think about it already!

*smug*