Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Dagnabbit




I know, I know, this is not a word you can find in the dictionary.  You might hear it uttered by a favorite cartoon character or… it may be used by a website for security reasons.  You know the drill.  You want to leave a comment on your favorite blog or log on to a website and before you can do it, you are required to type a meaningless word in the box.  It’s not as easy as it sounds.  Is that a k or an L?  Could that be an O or is it a B?

Iscabibble!  Drabonit! Boooyahoey!

“Captcha”, the technical term for this process is kind of a bizarre word in itself.

It works like this.  You decide you would like to comment on a blog or log onto a website.  Before it will allow this you must type a group of jumbled and distorted words or numbers.  Sometimes this is not so easy.  Don’t worry, you get a second chance, and maybe even a third to get it right. 

Relax; it is for your own protection and when has something for your own protection actually been enjoyable? Someone has to deter those fiendish robots that are trolling around just looking for someone like you.  I know you wouldn’t really buy diet pills that guarantee you lose 30 lbs. an hour, but I also know you don’t want your inbox to be full of this useless garbage either.

Quit complaining and just type the word.

Carmajizzle!  Prompta! Wockawocka!

I read once that the old time comedian W.C. Fields was entranced with odd words and always gave his characters funny names.  Do you think he was the original user of Captcha?  He came up with names like, Otis Criblecoblis and Effingham Bellweather as well as Mahatma Cane Jeeves.    Sounds plausible to me.  I can just picture him saying to his butler… “My hat, my cane…Jeeves”  Wink, wink!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

ahhh the things we have to do "for our own protection"

and a good "lobishr" to you

Anonymous said...

You have a good point in this posting Crystal. I had turned my "word thingy" off, now I think I'll turn it back on, right away :)

Heather said...

Thanks for the information! Ha ha ha - i always wondered what that word was called.
I love making up crazy names for characters, I usually ask my kids...they are much better than me! he he he. enjoy the day, we are expecting more snow here....:)

Leovi said...

No doubt hate the "Captcha", if it is it is to avoid spam, I on my site so the public comments after approval and took the trouble to write those fans uncomfortable words. And the Spam, it is true that there delete it and not public. A hug.

Janice said...

Well said, Crystal!

Franz said...

The Captcha is useless, does not protect you from spam or cyber attacks, it's just a waste of time.
I've removed from my Blog.

Ciao Crystal!

Carol Blackburn said...

Oh Crystal, you are too funny. I love it when the captcha relates to the comment I just typed. I also used to write them down and make up definitions for them. Like "shicipe" a recipe for s#&! to happen. The captcha is used to differentiate humans from computer spammers. Only a human can eventually sort out the characters and type them correctly so it eliminates you from being computer spammed. Right now the captcha below is "reerin" as in it is "rearing" it's ugly head again.

Gretchen Bjornson ART said...

Sometimes those words make me giggle. At times I wonder if they aren't mocking me in some way:)

Magic Love Crow said...

LOL! Excellent Crystal!!! Oh, the fun things we must do ;o)

Christine said...

I'm with Gretchen...the captchas that are supposed to be two words are often quite chuckle worthy! Ah well...I don't need to prove I'm a human being :-)

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