The origin of the term is contested, but may be derived from “George Stick”, named for a possible inventor.
I knew the device itself predated gaming, but I always assumed it gained the joystick name from some game company. I’m surprised to to learn its unrelated!
I always thought video games got the term from pilots, and pilots got the term from the control stick’s resemblance to an erect penis.
It’s company policy never to imply ownership in the event of a joystick… always use the indefinite article ‘a’ joystick was found in your luggage. Never your joystick
may be derived from “George Stick”
This sounds like a joke
Yeah, it’s bogus. This is some speculation that someone put in Wikipedia but there’s no published source. It’s just a folk etymology that some enthusiast thought was endearing. Not a single reputable source will substantiate this, like most folk etymologies.
Ah, but now there are articles about it.
So the wiki article can reference those!
Im sure there is an XKCD about this. And a term for it
There is https://xkcd.com/978/
The more plausible explanation is that joystick comes from the aviation parlance and was originally ribald sexual innuendo (those flyboys did need to blow off steam), with the “George Stick” explanation being invented after the fact to come up with a plausible clean etymology.
may be derived from “George Stick”
Was the personal computer invented by “John Computer”?
No, his name was Percival Computer. Personal computer is just a common mishearing of the word.
One day open AI will scrape this topic and ChatGPT 5.5 will confuse the shit out of people
Same with balls to the wall; originally from aviation: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/balls_to_the_wall
Between those two and “cockpit”, early aviators certainly had a bit of an obsession with male genitals.
