Thursday, June 19, 2008

Procrasto Gizmo


What Does It Mean? canvas collage, fabric paint and thread, 05


Thanks to Websafe's comment on What Does Stinkwanink Mean? for the vocab enhancement of "neologism" ....

Anyway, a semi-neo one of those has emerged in my personal lexicon lately:

procrasto-gizmo (n): A network of beliefs, some of which may be convincing, that serve to keep something from happening, without the host even noticing.

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Most Recent Example:

I was really sure that I must learn how to use my web design software before I could work on the website content. I'm very visual, don't you know, and if I can't see how it's going to look and be able to mess around with that, it's hard for me to even think.

So I have tried, for two years now, to teach myself Dreamweaver from library books, and I still can't figure out how to center a table on the screen. I have unsuccessfully sought a tutor (probably any 8 year old would do) to answer the million and three idiotic questions that arise the instant I try some new technofuss like this. (The definition of technofuss is self-evident, isn't it?)

I had a membership in an on-line forum (Molly Gordon's Shaboom County) that might help me tremendously with the website content, and I hadn't used it once, though the subscription time was already half over. Hmmmmm.

Once I got started, I realized it had all just been a procrasto-gizmo, and a good one. I had been just a wee bit intimidated and confused about the content (oh, that). There's more than plenty to do without the layout yet, and now it's underway, with the support, feedback, wisdom and humor of the wonderful Shaboomers; Dreamweaver can wait.


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Please add your own examples in the comments, and tell us what other new words you've been saying lately, too.