# Who put the joy in joystick?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-put-the-joy-in-joystick/215878>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 29, 2003, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-put-the-joy-in-joystick/215878 "2003-11-29T07:09:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-put-the-joy-in-joystick/215878/1 "2003-11-29T07:09:21Z")

</div>

My dictionary didn’t give a derivation for the word. So where did the “joy” in “joystick” come from?

Serious answers appreciated. Smutty answers expected.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mr.Babbington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mr.Babbington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Babbington)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-put-the-joy-in-joystick/215878/2 "2003-11-29T07:21:18Z")

</div>

Who put the “bop” in the bop, shebop, shebop, who put the “ram” in the rama lama ding dong? Who was that man, I’d like to shake his hand…he made my joystick fall in love with me.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-put-the-joy-in-joystick/215878/3 "2003-11-29T07:23:45Z")

</div>

Uh, sounds like _you’re_ in love with your joystick.

Sigh. Here I am, hijacking my own thread.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mr.Babbington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mr.Babbington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Babbington)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-put-the-joy-in-joystick/215878/4 "2003-11-29T07:25:40Z")

</div>

Yeah , well…it’s late.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-put-the-joy-in-joystick/215878/5 "2003-11-29T07:41:01Z")

</div>

[http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19991202](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19991202) Nobody’s quite sure, but some people think it might have started as a euphamism for penis. Or maybe a derivation of ‘Joist’, which got extended in the other direction.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-put-the-joy-in-joystick/215878/6 "2003-11-29T15:19:22Z")

</div>

I always thought this was from the early days of aviation, named from the sheer joy of flying. That was my WAG, anyway.