Alluva sudden, it clicked!

March 4, 2011 8:59 AM

[English] language mavens: I need a word that falls between tactile and kinesthetic, that describes an interesting physical sensation like the click of those little toy jumping discs.

You know the ones: it's a bimetallic concave disc, and you turn it "inside out," put it on a table, and it relaxes over the next few seconds until it gets past the inflection point, then it springs into its normal state (and jumps up in the air as well.)

I want to talk about fidgety people playing with gadgets like that.

posted by spacewrench to Writing & Language (20 answers total)

Best answer: Haptic
posted by Paragon at 9:03 AM on March 4, 2011

"Haptic"? That's a generic word. If the people you're describing get stimulation from the toy's spring action rather than how it feels to the touch, are you really asking for words that describe physical sensations? "Fidgety people playing with gadgets" sounds like what's described as "stimming" in the autism literature. I've heard it refer to repetitive play in addition to just repetitive movement.
posted by Nomyte at 9:04 AM on March 4, 2011

At work, we call the action of repetitively playing with items like that "stimming," which is short for "self-stimulatory behavior." The technical term carries over into other areas, as in "Gary was stimming on his ballpoint pen through the whole meeting and the clicking drove me crazy. "
posted by corey flood at 9:09 AM on March 4, 2011

Response by poster: Sorry, Nomyte, I misspoke: I'm more focused on talking about the gadget than the person; I want to convey the idea that the gadget has this property and have the reader think "oh, I know exactly what that's like, and I want to play with one too!"

"Haptic" is a good call, but if anybody has a less-erudite word, I'd appreciate it.

(Failing miserably to avoid threadsitting!)
posted by spacewrench at 9:11 AM on March 4, 2011

How about "elastic deformation"?
posted by Nomyte at 9:14 AM on March 4, 2011

reactive? percussive?
posted by jon1270 at 9:16 AM on March 4, 2011

tactual: causing a tactile sensation.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:26 AM on March 4, 2011

Colloquialisms: clicktastic, finger-crack, addictive, fiddly, satisfying
posted by pseudostrabismus at 9:32 AM on March 4, 2011

I would say "palpable" or "visceral."
posted by Handstand Devil at 9:33 AM on March 4, 2011

Bubblewrappypoppyesque.
posted by AugieAugustus at 9:35 AM on March 4, 2011

Oh, so what you want is "moreish" but for movement, hmm? I don't think there is a common and reliable word for that, so let's make one up. "Clickety," maybe? "enticingly clickety" in your use case? Although you probably want the word itself to evoke the idea of compulsion, as moreish does for potato chips and so forth....Tactpulsolry? Rublish? Fiddle-happy?
posted by Diablevert at 9:36 AM on March 4, 2011

bubble-wrappy would be universally understood.
posted by empath at 9:43 AM on March 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

"Tactile response" is the term many industrial designers use to describe the property of a mechanical element's reaction to touch. I am pretty sure that's not what you are looking for, though.

How about:
Delayed potential energy conversion. Delayed kinetic energy recovery. Mexican Jumping Bean Effect. Auto-tiddly-winks.

You might just have to describe it in mundane terms:
"Ben repeatedly fidgeted with a small metal disk, bending it and letting it pop into the air to clatter back down onto the desk."

I wonder if the Japanese have a term for this...
posted by Xoebe at 9:49 AM on March 4, 2011

I think I know what you mean, the satisfying click as the disk pops from instability into a point of equilibrium. It's kind of similar to how my ipod cable clicks securely into place on my ipod (for example), or how the cap of my favorite pen fits onto the end of the pen with an audible click. I feel like there's a word for this but it's not coming to me...
posted by beandip at 10:13 AM on March 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

Tensile? Flexile?
posted by Rhaomi at 10:56 AM on March 4, 2011

Words from The Sword in the Stone and the Jabberwocky come to mind:

'Snick, snack, snorum!'

'The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!'
posted by griselda at 11:42 AM on March 4, 2011

This isn't a great answer to your question, but I found it fascinating: "jalopia - n. fatigue with the laborious maintenance of having a body, a piñata of meat that’s incompatible with the Legoland rationality of the modern world, which was built for beings whose indestructible parts lock onto the Earth with a satisfying ‘click,’ whose emotions are standardized, whose mistakes are best measured in parts per million."

satisclicktic? clicktastic? clickaliscious? snapgasmic?
posted by madred at 1:32 PM on March 4, 2011

Response by poster: Thanks everybody. This is for a patent application, so I needed a formal English word that was as evocative as possible. (Technically, you can make up your own jargon, but I really try to avoid that.) English is such a rich language, and it's a great (geeky!) thrill to find exactly the right word, particularly when it's an underutilized or out-of-date one. (Cue Mark Twain about the lightning bug and the lightning.)

I settled on "haptic" with some additional description. "Clicktastic" should be in the advertising copy for this product, though.
posted by spacewrench at 3:03 PM on March 4, 2011

'haptic' is actually pretty trendy.
posted by empath at 3:50 PM on March 4, 2011

I've heard objects like that referred to as "fidgets" by a therapist I know. He keeps a basket in his office for patients who like to, well, fidget with stuff while they're thinking.
posted by AngerBoy at 2:24 PM on March 6, 2011