May 15, 2003

automagically

/aw·toh·maj´i·klee/ adv.

Automatically, but in a way that, for some reason (typically because it is too complicated, or too ugly, or perhaps even too trivial), the speaker doesn't feel like explaining to you. See magic. The C-INTERCAL compiler generates C, then automagically invokes cc1 to produce an executable.

This term is quite old, going back at least to the mid-70s in jargon and probably much earlier. The word ‘automagic’ occurred in advertising (for a shirt-ironing gadget) as far back as the late 1940s.

Posted by Jargon File at May 15, 2003 10:58 AM

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