Splink!

A few months ago, Pappa Bear and I decided that we needed to come up with a new word, something to describe what happens when we sit down at the computer with the intention of looking for something in particular, and then, several hours and dozens of sites later, come out of our daze and realize we never did find what we were looking for because we followed a link from the first search results onto a completely different topic... and from that topic, another link, to another site and topic... and another, and another... kind of like a slinky falling down a long flight of stairs.

So in honor of this, we coined a new word: Splink!

Let's compare it to a Slinky:

Wiki:
Slinky: a toy consisting of a helical spring that can travel down stairs end-over-end as it stretches and reforms itself with the aid of gravity and its own momentum.

Vicki:
Splinking: a web-surfing activity consisting of a tendency to follow tangentially related hyperlinks away from the topic or site of original interest, causing one to travel from one internet site to another, as the splinker’s thoughts stretch and reform themselves with the aid of distraction and their own momentum.

Latin – from the words Split + Link

Verb: Splinking
Past Tense: Splinked
Noun: Splinker
Plural: Splinks

Example: “What did you do all afternoon on the computer?” “Well, I went looking for brass doornobs, and then I splinked all over the place, ending up watching American Idol try-outs on YouTube.”

You've all done it. Admit it. But now, you have a word for this behavior. And anything you can identify, well, you can explain to your therapist.

Ooh - that reminds me, I need to go lookup up the average amount of rainfall that is needed to grow good Orchardgrass...

Happy Splinking!