one weird trick
nounEtymology One of various collocations that were found empirically in A-B testing to have high clickbait effectiveness, at least at the time when they were not yet hackneyed. The choice of words was driven by their clickbaiting power.
1
Informal A supposed unusual and little-known solution to a problem, offered in deceptive and misleading advertising on the Internet.
- The text itself read only slightly less formally and considerably more like a legitimate online resource than what Helen had expected: either a string of gibberish or else something comparable to the meaningless hyperbole of online ads promising to reveal one weird trick to weight loss, sexual stamina, or immense riches.2015, Gin Jones, A Draw of Death: Helen Binney Mysteries book #3:
- The same questions over and over, as if somehow this time I would give them a different answer, something easy that would solve everything. One Weird Trick to Cure Autism!2016, Jennifer Noonan, No Map to This Country: One Family's Journey through Autism:
1 more example
- The phonestack game isn't a “life hack” or a “brain hack” or a clickbaity “this one weird trick” or a clinically or even anecdotally psychologically effective mechanism for exercising willpower—it's just another thing you can do with your phones at dinner.2016, Ian Bogost, Play Anything: The Pleasure of Limits, the Uses of Boredom, and the Secret of Games:
- Related terms
- cheap trick, parlour trick, party trick, cheat code, lifehack