the.com/toggle
The smallest god of decision, flipping worlds between two stubborn states.
means To switch something between two states, on and off or one mode and another, often with a single action.
from A nautical word first: a toggle was a small pin or crosspiece pushed through a loop of rope to fasten it — think the wooden bar on a duffel coat. The verb came later, naming the flip-this-or-that motion that toggle fasteners and switches make, and computing eagerly adopted it for any two-state flip.
- naval origin
- Named for the pin sailors slid through rope loops
- binary soul
- It only knows on and off, nothing between
- coat closure
- Wooden toggles fastened duffle coats for cold sailors
- verb too
- You can toggle anything, even your own attention
dark mode toggle — feature in ios 13+ that switches between light and dark interface themes with one tap
nuclear launch toggle — physical switch on soviet nuclear briefcase protecting authorization codes during cold war
toggle switch patent — invented by john h. bunnell in 1916, became standard electrical switch design