2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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frobnicate
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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/frobnikayt/ , vt. [Poss. derived from frobnitz , and usually abbreviated to
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frob , but frobnicate is recognized as the official full form.:] To
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manipulate or adjust, to tweak. One frequently frobs bits or other 2-state
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devices. Thus: Please frob the light switch (that is, flip it), but also
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Stop frobbing that clasp; you'll break it. One also sees the construction to
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frob a frob. See tweak and twiddle. Usage: frob, twiddle, and tweak
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sometimes connote points along a continuum. Frob connotes aimless
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manipulation; twiddle connotes gross manipulation, often a coarse search for
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a proper setting; tweak connotes fine-tuning. If someone is turning a knob
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on an oscilloscope, then if he's carefully adjusting it, he is probably
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tweaking it; if he is just turning it but looking at the screen, he is
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probably twiddling it; but if he's just doing it because turning a knob is
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fun, he's frobbing it. The variant frobnosticate has been recently reported.
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