buttonology

Noun

buttonology (uncountable)

1. The study of buttons (clothing fasteners and badges).
   • We're masters "buttonology" — of experimentation, of keeping pace with far-sighted fashion trends — are climaxed in a new Spring line which we present to the trade as worthy of representing our Golden Jubilee.1945, Chain Store Age - Volume 21, Issues 1-6, page 18
   • Happily this “button book of button books” by Lillian Smith Albert and Kathryn Kent provides a convenient guide through the maze of buttonology.1949, Lillian Smith Albert, The Complete Button Book
2. (derogatory) An exaggerated and pointlessly pedantic systematization, especially of something trivial.
   • In the short story De lycksaliges ö from 1890 there is a satire on the Historical Museum in Stockholm , where archaeology with its typological method is characterized as a “ buttonology " ( Strindberg 1890 : 116ff ; cf. Welinder 1994 : 297ff , 320ff )1999, Current Swedish Archaeology - Volume 7, page 191
   • From this point of view ethnology carries on, as do also, of course, all other disciplines, "buttonology" (knappologi).2014, Knut Kolsrud, “Ethnology of the Present”, in Sigurd Erixon, The Possibilities of Charting Modern Life
3. (informal) The basic training required to start using a machine or piece of software: what the components of the interface are, what they do, and how to accomplish basic tasks.
   • But if he does know his buttonology, there is much pleasure and profit for him in amateur picture-taking.1924, The American Annual of Photography, volumes 39-40
   • The bottom line is that high - technology training goes far beyond “ buttonology , " or learning how to push the buttons on the computer .1996, Cheryl Farr, High-tech Practice: Thriving in Dentistry's Computer Age, page 48
4. (US, slang) User interface
   • “The [controller] that will go in theater . . . is just a tad bigger . . . but all the same buttonology, but it’s ruggedized for the environment,” Raulerson said.2007 April 27, Carlo Munoz, “First round now under way”, in Inside the Air Force, volume 18, number 17, →JSTOR, pages 4–5
   • Fielding the newer version of the system with or without the enclave is important to units slated to have DCGS-A because the newer version “is a lot more user friendly for our analysts, as it’s more in tune with Windows-type applications,” he said at the roundtable. What’s more, it features what he...2013 January 3, Jen Judson, “Officials:: No Loss Of Capability For DCGS-A Without Top-Secret Enclave”, in Inside the Pentagon, volume 29, number 1, →JSTOR, page 11