AdRants posted something the other day that used the word “Flashturbation.” I hadn’t seen the word before, but I love it: What a perfectly precise way to characterize the all-too-prevalent misuse of Flash. But I wondered: Was this an AdRants coinage, or a word that’s been around for a while that I missed?

I missed. Google offered up 536 results for a search on “Flashturbation,” including this Suite101.com entry with a somewhat unsavory headline. This post from Jerry Bono over on chinwag.com was the earliest use I could find in the 15 minutes I allotted myself to dig: December 15, 1999.

In reality, it was probably coined by one of the first two people using Flash, when one teased the other about doing something stupid with the software.

And the stupidity has continued ever since.

Takeaway for marketers: Your site deserves the best, doesn’t it? Don’t Flashturbate all over it.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 23rd, 2005 at 6:32 am and is filed under Internet Stuff, Marketing Takeaways.