one weird trick

English

Etymology

One of various collocations that were found empirically in A-B testing to have high clickbait effectiveness on humans, at least at the time when they were not yet hackneyed. The choice of words was driven by their clickbaiting power.

Noun

one weird trick

1. (informal) A supposed unusual and little-known solution to a problem, offered in deceptive and misleading advertising on the Internet.
   • 2015, Gin Jones, A Draw of Death: Helen Binney Mysteries book #3:

     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.

   • 2016, Jennifer Noonan, No Map to This Country: One Family's Journey through Autism:

     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, Ian Bogost, Play Anything: The Pleasure of Limits, the Uses of Boredom, and the Secret of Games:

     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.

Hypernyms

• trick