quizzicle

From quiz +‎ -icle (diminutive suffix). The term is associated with, and possibly originates from, an old joke: "if a quiz is a quizzicle, what's a test?" (or variations). Later reanalyzed as (or recoined from) a blend of quiz +‎ article.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkwɪzɪkəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

quizzicle (plural quizzicles)

1. (rare) A short quiz.
   • 2005 December 29, Joel Spolsky, “The Perils of JavaSchools”, in More Joel on Software: […]‎^[1], Berkeley, Calif.: Apress, published 2008, →ISBN, archived from the original on 1 July 2024, page 57:

     OOP in school consists mostly of memorizing a bunch of vocabulary terms like "encapsulation" and "inheritance" and taking multiple-choice quizzicles on the difference between polymorphism and overloading. Not much harder than memorizing famous dates and names in a history class, OOP poses inadequate mental challenges to scare away first-year students.

   • [2013 September 18, @jimmyfallon [Jimmy Fallon], Twitter‎^[2], archived from the original on 23 July 2024:

     My teacher used to call quizzes "quizzicles." You don't want to know what he called "tests." #myweirdteacher]

   • 2016 February 2, Matt Burns, “Revisit The Crunchies Of Yesteryear Ahead Of The 9th Annual Crunchies”, in TechCrunch‎^[3], archived from the original on 23 July 2024:

     Back on Earth, teens and young adults were getting down with Snapchat, the Fastest Rising Startup of 2012 that was on a quick, meteoric rise to the top of the teen texting throne. And when they weren't snapping they were on BuzzFeed, the Best Time Sink of 2012 with all of the quizzicles and listicles.

   • 2017 February 18, Don Steinberg, “Comcast's Surprisingly Viral Future”, in Philadelphia‎^[4], Philadelphia, P.A.: Metrocorp, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 May 2024:

     In October, one of the company's monstrous acquisitions, the TV and movie empire NBCUniversal, revealed that it had peeled off $200 million to buy another taste of BuzzFeed, the trendy shareable-content producer. BuzzFeed has been best known — until recently — for its many irreverent lists and quizzes and "listicles." And I guess "quizzicles." These include the recent viral sensation "How Millennial Are You?" and a 2015 debate, involving millions of agitated people, over whether a striped dress was white and gold or black and blue.

   • 2024 January 29, u/LibraryLuLu, “Clock The Tea: The Show vs Actual Villain”, in Reddit‎^[5], r/rupaulsdragrace, archived from the original on 23 July 2024:

     [BuzzFeed is] A sad rotting corpse stinking up the interwebs. I think it's just one person creating an infinite number of quizzicles.

quizzicle

1. Misspelling of quizzical.