this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2025
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No Stupid Questions
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There is no such thing as a Stupid Question!
Don't be embarrassed of your curiosity; everyone has questions that they may feel uncomfortable asking certain people, so this place gives you a nice area not to be judged about asking it. Everyone here is willing to help.
- ex. How do I change oil
- ex. How to tie shoes
- ex. Can you cry underwater?
Reminder that the rules for lemmy.ca still apply!
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Just going by memory of usage pattern:
Gadget: a small (at least usually small enough to be carried around and utilized by a single person) piece of technology for a specific, often niche use. Eg, "go go gadget shark-repelant spray gun!"
Contraption: a device, often jury rigged or prototyped, built to serve some particular purpose. Eg, "I built this here contraption to dig us a way out of here"
Doohickey: A word used refer to a contraption or other piece of technology that the speaker does not understand, or does not know the purpose of, especially to emphasise that lack of understanding. Eg, "they're gonna 'beam' us out of here with that doohickey."
Not sure about gizmos.
Edit: examples
I think gadgets and gizmos are in the same general category, but gadgets tend to be more mechanically operated and gizmos tend to be more electrically operated.
Like a wrist-mounted crossbow would be a gadget, whereas a wrist-mounted laser would be a gizmo.