Frobnicate

What Does Frobnicate Mean?

The word “frobnicate” in IT is a kind of techie slang that
describes tweaking or fiddling with physical parts of a technology. Frobnicate
has been regularly abbreviated as “frob” or related to a piece of hardware
architecture called a “frobnitz.”

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Techopedia Explains Frobnicate

The term “frobnicate” is often attributed to David R. Sawyer, an IT
pro at MIT. The term grew in popularity over the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
It is often used very informally to talk about aimless or non-productive
physical activity with technology. For instance, someone might say – “stop
frobicating that switch,” or “stop frobnicating that lever” if they
feel like the person is not using common sense in manipulating the technology,
or that they are putting too much pressure on it or using it in inappropriate
ways.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…