# one-word synonym for a disco ball? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 8, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-word-synonym-for-a-disco-ball/488775 "2009-03-08T23:16:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-word-synonym-for-a-disco-ball/488775/41 "2009-03-13T20:32:17Z")
I’ve heard witchball as often as disco ball. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-word-synonym-for-a-disco-ball/488775/42 "2009-03-13T21:06:32Z")
I’ve heard that the mirrored balls seen as ornaments in gardens are known as “murgatroyds,” as in “Heavens to.” Maybe that’s it? ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-word-synonym-for-a-disco-ball/488775/43 "2009-03-13T22:05:33Z")
My mom says she thinks it may start with a “g” ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-word-synonym-for-a-disco-ball/488775/44 "2009-03-13T22:13:43Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > My mom says she thinks it may start with a “g” That ties in with a name for it that I can’t (and couldn’t) recall that had me thinking it was something like gravure or rotogravure or photogravure, none of which has anything to do with a ball. See if Mom has any other sound-like words we can try to match. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-word-synonym-for-a-disco-ball/488775/45 "2009-03-14T13:30:51Z")
Just in case this thread hasn’t had enough tangents, try [http://kol.coldfront.net/thekolwiki/index.php/Disco\_ball](http://kol.coldfront.net/thekolwiki/index.php/Disco_ball) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Norder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-word-synonym-for-a-disco-ball/488775/46 "2009-03-14T19:23:02Z")
> [@Marienee](#): > > My father says that a silver reflective ball in the garden was in some places in the US referred to as a “kugel” or “garden kugel” when he was young. That’s just the German word for “ball”. ---
**Author:** ![moes\_lotion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@moes\_lotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moes_lotion)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-word-synonym-for-a-disco-ball/488775/47 "2009-03-15T01:53:27Z")
I was going to suggest tacky, but since the OP’s mom thinks it started with the letter “g”, how about garish? ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-word-synonym-for-a-disco-ball/488775/48 "2009-03-15T05:47:50Z")
Kaleidosphere? Doesn’t start with ‘g’, but ‘k’ is pretty close. ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-word-synonym-for-a-disco-ball/488775/49 "2009-03-15T07:42:28Z")
galaball ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-word-synonym-for-a-disco-ball/488775/50 "2009-03-21T17:55:10Z")
The thread I started in GQ back in 07-03-2003, 08:32 AM [What’s the real name of a “disco ball”?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=195107) didn’t get any further than this thread has, but I wanted to include a reference to it, so I wouldn’t have to go any further than this thread the next time I see that the topic has come up again. If you can’t tell, I’m really curious to know the answer. I feel there must be one. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-word-synonym-for-a-disco-ball/488775/51 "2009-03-29T21:19:08Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > That ties in with a name for it that I can’t (and couldn’t) recall that had me thinking it was something like gravure or rotogravure or photogravure, none of which has anything to do with a ball. > > See if Mom has any other sound-like words we can try to match. Ok, she says this is on the right track, since she keeps getting the word “daguerreotype” stuck in her head when she tries to remember though she knows that isn’t right at all. She says she thinks the word sounded German. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-word-synonym-for-a-disco-ball/488775/52 "2009-03-29T21:22:04Z")
And she thinks it was the common term in the '20s ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-word-synonym-for-a-disco-ball/488775/53 "2009-04-02T09:06:36Z")
> [@Bookkeeper](#): > > I’ve heard witchball as often as disco ball. I’ve only heard “witchball” as referring to the spherical mirrored balls put in gardens as ornaments/bird repellents. Witchballs are not faceted. Disco balls are. Such is my knowlege. Drink of it and be whole. ---
**Author:** ![cardinal\_fang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal_fang/32/15316_2.png) [@cardinal\_fang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cardinal_fang)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-word-synonym-for-a-disco-ball/488775/54 "2009-04-02T10:53:23Z")
Along the same lines, the German word is “diskokugel.” Does it sound similar to that? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-word-synonym-for-a-disco-ball/488775/55 "2009-04-03T02:15:25Z")
Apparently the first “cite” of the disco ball is in the 1927 German film _Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt_ (which translates, prosaically enough, to “Berlin: The Symphony of the Big City”). Could someone from America have seen the film and subsequently referred to the spheres as “Großstadt balls” or “Grossstadters”? ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_J](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Mark\_J](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_J)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-word-synonym-for-a-disco-ball/488775/56 "2009-05-26T21:42:22Z")
Since some of the first places these appeared were German ballrooms, I wonder if people originally used the german word for mirror ball: Spiegelkugel. [Spiegelkugel – Wikipedia](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiegelkugel) Just a thought. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-word-synonym-for-a-disco-ball/488775/57 "2009-05-27T04:34:04Z")
What about: [Gyricon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyricon) [Gyroscope](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyroscope) [Gyrostat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyroscope) (at the bottom of the page) [Gimbal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimbal) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-word-synonym-for-a-disco-ball/488775.md?page=2)