History Main / ThingOMeter

* Wiki/RationalWiki's [[http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Irony_meter Irony Meter.]] Irony Meters are often mentioned on Fundies Say The Darndest Things, usually in in a ReadingsAreOffTheScale ExplosiveInstrumentation way.

** In the episode featuring ''Angel's Revenge,'' Tom Servo invents a Shame-O-Meter (pronounced "shuh-MAH-meh-ter") to measure the shame the actors in the film are feeling, using Peter Lawford as a baseline. Jim Backus as a right-wing CrazySurvivalist managed to reach giga-Lawford levels, while exposure to Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank dressed as Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs [[ReadingsAreOffTheScale nearly breaks the meter]].

* A season 2 episode of ''Laff-a-Lympics'' employed an applause meter to gauge which of the three teams would win a specific event. Mildew Wolf would hold his microphone to the camera, presumably for the viewers at home to vote by applause. Naturally, the Really Rottens got bupkis.

* As mentioned in the description, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clap-o-meter Clap-O-Meter]], which was a feature on many game shows in the 60s and 70s. It was supplanted by more accurate forms of audience voting, like keypads. [[IThoughtThatMeant Definitely not to be used for diagnosing sexually transmitted infections!]]

* As mentioned in the description, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clap-o-meter Clap-O-Meter]], which was a feature on many game shows in the 60s and 70s. It was supplanted by more accurate forms of audience voting, like keypads. [[IThoughtItMeant Definitely not to be used for diagnosing sexually transmitted infections!]]

* As mentioned in the description, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clap-o-meter Clap-O-Meter]], which was a feature on many game shows in the 60s and 70s. It was supplanted by more accurate forms of audience voting, like keypads.

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** How do [[AllTrollsAreDifferent trolls]] know how effective their [[{{Troll}} trolling]] is? [[SarcasmBlind Kanaya]] uses the "[[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004595 Flighty Broads and Their Snarky Horseshitometer]]" in an [[SnarkToSnarkCombat exchange]] with [[LittleMissSnarker Rose]]. It ends up [[ReadingsBlewUpTheScale exploding]] (after Rose goes OffTheRails and [[ScrewDestiny blows up her gate]]), because it simply couldn't take that much horseshit.

* ''Film/BridgetJonesDiary'': In ''The Edge of Reason'', Rebecca has a habit of making stinging remarks. This is shown as a "jellyfish counter" on the screen, which increases with each remark. It decreases when Bridget manages to insert a stinging remark of her own.

* The movie ''Film/ThatThingYouDo'' has an applause-o-meter that determines the winner of a band contest. It's not a machine but a model standing in front of a marked-off dial backdrop; she uses her hands to show how high the applause goes. The gradations are: "You stink", "Not terrible", "Good", "Extra good", "Super", and "Wicked". (The fact that Jimmy is seriously butthurt over Guy changing the tempo on his song while ignoring the applause-o-meter redlining at the far end of "Wicked" behind him neatly foreshadows his future negative reactions to their sudden stardom.)

* The movie ''Film/ThatThingYouDo'' has an applause-o-meter that determines the winner of a band contest. It's not a machine but a model standing in front of a marked-off dial backdrop; she uses her hands to show how high the applause goes. The gradations are: "You stink", "Not terrible", "Good", "Extra good", "Super", and "Wicked". (The fact that Jimmy is seriously butthurt over Guy changing the tempo on his song despite the applause meter redlining at the far end of "Wicked" neatly foreshadows his future negative reactions to their sudden stardom.)

* The movie ''Film/ThatThingYouDo'' has an applause-o-meter that determines the winner of a band contest.

* In ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2SpecialEdition'', a clap-o-meter is used during the ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve segment.

* The AltText to the ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strip "[[https://xkcd.com/2060/ Hygrometer]]", which is about Cueball's compulsion to by any thing-o-meter he hears about, says that the rate with which he collects them is measured by his ometerometer.

[[quoteright:350:[[Advertising/{{Nicorette}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Suck-o-meter_1705.jpg]]]]

** In the episode featuring ''Angel's Revenge,'' Tom Servo invents a Shame-O-Meter (pronounced "shuh-MAH-meh-ter") to measure the shame the actors in the film are feeling, using Peter Lawford as a baseline. Exposure to Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank dressed as Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs [[ReadingsAreOffTheScale nearly breaks the meter]].

** ''Literature/MovingPictures'' has the resograph, a device designed by a wizard named [[PunnyName Riktor]] the Tinkerer to measure changes in the fabric of reality. On the Discworld, said fabric is a lot more flexible thanks to [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve the power of belief]] and the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality. The name is a BrickJoke from an explanation that "thaums" are made of sub-particles called "resons", which is [[CanisLatinicus doggy-Latin]] for "thingies", so the resograph is literally a thing-o-meter. Riktor also invented the Mouse Counter[[note]]counts every mouse in the building[[/note]], the Rev Counter[[note]]as the previous one, but for priests[[/note]] and the Swamp Meter[[note]]usage never explained[[/note]]. Regrettably, he seems not to have been very good at keeping records of what a particular thing-o-meter was supposed to be measuring or how to read it, information that would have been immensely helpful to Ponder Stibbons when the resograph starts going off.

-->''"Oh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a '''''real''' useful'' invention."''
-->-- Comic Book Guy, TheSimpsons

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** In "Bitzi's Beau" Buster and Harry have handheld Alien-O-Meters which can tell if a person or character is an alien. They are supposedly just toys that always show comsone is an alien if activated.

* In the '"WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode "Bossy Boots" Brain designs a machine in the episode intro called the "Boss-O-Meter" to measure how many bosses a child has in the life. D.W. makes the machine break down by overloading it.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'''s thaumometer, which measures a magical field in "thaums". Mind you, this is just a perfectly sensible piece of equipment for a wizard on a world run by magic.
** ''Discworld/MovingPictures'' has the resograph, a device designed by a wizard named [[PunnyName Riktor]] the Tinkerer to measure changes in the fabric of reality. On the Discworld, said fabric is a lot more flexible thanks to [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve the power of belief]] and the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality. The name is a BrickJoke from an explanation that "thaums" are made of sub-particles called "resons", which is [[CanisLatinicus doggy-Latin]] for "thingies", so the resograph is literally a thing-o-meter. Riktor also invented the Mouse Counter[[note]]counts every mouse in the building[[/note]], the Rev Counter[[note]]as the previous one, but for priests[[/note]] and the Swamp Meter[[note]]usage never explained[[/note]]. Regrettably, he seems not to have been very good at keeping records of what a particular thing-o-meter was supposed to be measuring or how to read it, information that would have been immensely helpful to Ponder Stibbons when the resograph starts going off.

* A strange old PC game called "How to be a Complete Bastard" has several meters including a "food-o-meter" and a "wee-o-meter". No need to say what those stand for.