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What’s The Origin of Automagically?

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While catching up on some stuff today, I came across the word “automagically” on Bebo.

AutomagicallyI first heard the word from Todd Vernon.  Todd is now the CEO of Lijit, but at the time he was CTO of Raindance.  It it one of my favorite Vernonisms, up there with “chocolatey goodness” (used to describe a wonderful computer hack or feature.)

I use automagically all the time – it’s a nice shorthand for Arthur C. Clarke’s third law of prediction: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”  I occasionally see it in the wild on blog posts every now and then, but this is the first time I’ve actually seen it used in a web service.  Oh happy day.

Oh yeah – I’m bradf037 on Bebo in case you want to be my friend (I’m really lonely today.)  Dear people at Bebo – your AIM Friend Finder is hanging on “Loading Authentication…” today.

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November 22nd, 2007     Categories: Uncategorized    
  • Bruce

    I've been using automagical for decades… I'm pretty sure I was using it in college, if not high school.

    Searching that bastion of netliness, the usenet archives, I can find it being used casually in net.misc as early as Feb 9, 1982. — < “>http://groups.google.com/group/net.misc/msg/82977…(at the end).

    And, it was already in the Hacker's Dictionary also published in net.misc on Feb 25, 1982 – < “>http://groups.google.com/group/net.misc/msg/fb66a…

    Looking for the precusors of the Hacker's Dictionary, automagically is mentioned in a copy of JARGON.TXT recovered from Fall 1981 — < . “>http://www.catb.org/jargon/oldversions/jarg110.tx…Jargon was started back in 1975 Raphael Finkel at Stanford, but I'm having problems finding anything older that the the 81 version above….

    So, I think it's probably safe to say that it didn't exist 100 years ago and let's round for fun, so let's say it appeared sometime between 1900 and 1981. ;)

  • Bruce

    A quick followup, there's an entry in the urban dictionary that claims that “automagic” was used in advertising back in the 40s (for a shirt-ironing thing). -< . “>http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=au…I have to admit that I like definition #4, though…

  • Bruce

    ok, my last comment on this, I promise.

    Here's a 1946 advert using “automagic” – < , “>http://www.adclassix.com/ads/46thor.htm>, relatedly, with no date, here's the use of “automagically” – < “>http://www.friskywife.com/wp-content/images/2007/…

    Oddly, the Thor company itself claims that their Automatic Washer didn't debut until the 1950s – < “>http://www.thorappliances.com/aboutThor/index.php…

    Ok, I think I need to be done at this point. ;)

  • http://www.emaildashboard.com Deva Hazarika

    Delete this post ASAP or else you'll lose all your geek cred. Happy Thanksgiving!

    • http://www.feld.com Brad Feld

      Happy to take a hit on geek cred to get more background. I never heard it used during the 7 years I was at MIT. The first time I heard it was around 1996 coming out of Vernon's mouth. I hear it every now and then, but I've never seen it used on an actual web service before.

  • Janzert

    I've certainly heard this word in common use within programing circles for as long as I can recall. Doing a quick search in google's usenet archives the earliest reference I could find was posted Feb 9 1982. But was also already included in the “Hackers Dictionary” posted to net.misc on Feb 25 1982. The definition given is:

    AUTOMAGICALLY adv. Automatically, but in a way which, for some reason
    (typically because it is too complicated, or too ugly, or perhaps
    even too trivial), I don't feel like explaining to you. See MAGIC.
    Example: Some programs which produce XGP output files spool them
    automagically.

  • http://falseprecision.typepad.com/my_weblog/ Todd Vernon

    Who knows.. my favorite term is “rat fucked” anyway :-)

  • http://www.adaptiveblue.com Alex Iskold

    I like automagic a lot and use it a lot. Good word.

    Why are you on Bebo?

    • http://www.feld.com Brad Feld

      Re: Bebo – I just decided to sign up for all the social networks as part of my OpenSocial / ClosedPrivate API research.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/bruce2096 bruce2096

    I've been using automagical for decades… I'm pretty sure I was using it in college, if not high school.

    Searching that bastion of netliness, the usenet archives, I can find it being used casually in net.misc as early as Feb 9, 1982. — <http://groups.google.com/group/net.misc/msg/82977…(at the end).

    And, it was already in the Hacker's Dictionary also published in net.misc on Feb 25, 1982 – <http://groups.google.com/group/net.misc/msg/fb66a…

    Looking for the precusors of the Hacker's Dictionary, automagically is mentioned in a copy of JARGON.TXT recovered from Fall 1981 — <http://www.catb.org/jargon/oldversions/jarg110.tx…Jargon was started back in 1975 Raphael Finkel at Stanford, but I'm having problems finding anything older that the the 81 version above….

    So, I think it's probably safe to say that it didn't exist 100 years ago and let's round for fun, so let's say it appeared sometime between 1900 and 1981. ;)

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/todd_vernon84 todd_vernon84

    Who knows.. my favorite term is "rat fucked" anyway :-)

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/bruce2096 bruce2096

    A quick followup, there's an entry in the urban dictionary that claims that "automagic" was used in advertising back in the 40s (for a shirt-ironing thing). -<http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=au…I have to admit that I like definition #4, though…

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/deva_hazari2084 deva_hazari2084

    Delete this post ASAP or else you'll lose all your geek cred. Happy Thanksgiving!

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/bruce2096 bruce2096

    ok, my last comment on this, I promise.

    Here's a 1946 advert using "automagic" – <http://www.adclassix.com/ads/46thor.htm>, relatedly, with no date, here's the use of "automagically" – <http://www.friskywife.com/wp-content/images/2007/…

    Oddly, the Thor company itself claims that their Automatic Washer didn't debut until the 1950s – <http://www.thorappliances.com/aboutThor/index.php…

    Ok, I think I need to be done at this point. ;)

  • Janzert

    I've certainly heard this word in common use within programing circles for as long as I can recall. Doing a quick search in google's usenet archives the earliest reference I could find was posted Feb 9 1982. But was also already included in the "Hackers Dictionary" posted to net.misc on Feb 25 1982. The definition given is:

    AUTOMAGICALLY adv. Automatically, but in a way which, for some reason
    (typically because it is too complicated, or too ugly, or perhaps
    even too trivial), I don't feel like explaining to you. See MAGIC.
    Example: Some programs which produce XGP output files spool them
    automagically.

  • Alex Iskold

    I like automagic a lot and use it a lot. Good word.

    Why are you on Bebo?

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/bfeld bfeld

    Re: Bebo – I just decided to sign up for all the social networks as part of my OpenSocial / ClosedPrivate API research.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/bfeld bfeld

    Happy to take a hit on geek cred to get more background. I never heard it used during the 7 years I was at MIT. The first time I heard it was around 1996 coming out of Vernon's mouth. I hear it every now and then, but I've never seen it used on an actual web service before.

Brad Feld

Hi, I'm Brad Feld, a managing director at Foundry Group who lives in Boulder, Colorado. I invest in software and Internet companies around the US, run marathons and read a lot.

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