The origin of the term is contested, but may be derived from “George Stick”, named for a possible inventor.
I knew the device itself predated gaming, but I always assumed it gained the joystick name from some game company. I’m surprised to to learn its unrelated!
This sounds like a joke
Yeah, it’s bogus. This is some speculation that someone put in Wikipedia but there’s no published source. It’s just a folk etymology that some enthusiast thought was endearing. Not a single reputable source will substantiate this, like most folk etymologies.
Ah, but now there are articles about it.
So the wiki article can reference those!
Im sure there is an XKCD about this. And a term for it
There is https://xkcd.com/978/