title: Whiffletrees and Goobers: 1,001 Fun and Fabulous Forgotten Words and Phrases
author:  W.R. Runyan 
description: W. R. Runyan grew up in Oklahoma during the horse-powered era. He spent four years in the U.S. Navy and was an adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University. He is now retired and lives in Dallas, Texas.
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  #  
  **GOOBEREALITY**
  
  Barnaby Quale, immaculately clad in pale yellow Gooberalls and ochre
  Gooberbund for his meeting with the head of Goober Enterprises, sat on the
  edge of the vast, hard chair reserved for personal interviewees of Harlowe
  Goober, waiting for the magnate to speak.
  
  "Environmental Simulator?" Goober's voice combined the toughness of
  Gooberplast with the silky texture of Gooberlon. He fixed Quale with a
  daggerlike glance from pale blue eyes magnified by quarter-inch electrolenses,
  prodded the sheets of sketches and calculations before him.
  
  "I'm a practical man, Clune," he announced. "Never went in for this what-d'ye-
  call-it science stuff; a Goober hires men for that. Now suppose you leave out
  all the technical talk and state just what it is you're referring to."
  
  "It's the matter I wrote to you about, six months ago, Mr. Goober," Barnaby
  said. "It's a new application of cyberneti