Notes on  ACME 

[from Greek akme highest point of perfection or achievement] The
canonical supplier of bizarre, elaborate, and non-functional gadgetry
-- where Rube Goldberg and Heath Robinson (two cartoonists who
specialized in elaborate contraptions) shop. The name has been
humorously expanded as A (or American) Company Making Everything. (In
fact, Acme was a real brand sold from Sears Roebuck catalogs in the
early 1900s.) Describing some X as an "Acme X" either means "This is
INSANELY GREAT", or, more likely, "This looks INSANELY GREAT on
paper, but in practice it's really easy to shoot yourself in the foot
with it." Compare PISTOL.

This term, specially cherished by American hackers and explained here
for the benefit of our overseas brethren, comes from the Warner
Brothers' series of "Road-runner" cartoons. In these cartoons, the
famished Wile E. Coyote was forever attempting to catch up with,
trap, and eat the Road-runner. His attempts usually involved one or
more high-technology Rube Goldberg devices -- rocket jetpacks,
catapults, magnetic traps, high-powered slingshots, etc. These were
usually delivered in large wooden crates labeled prominently with the
Acme name -- which, probably not by coincidence, was the trade name
of the animation rotation board used by cartoonists since forever.
Acme devices invariably malfunctioned in improbable and violent ways.

J3N Research Labs

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