nerdle
n.— «So how much toothpaste should you use, given all those millions spent on the product? A “nerdle” says the ADA. That’s a squeeze that covers the length of the bristles on a toothbrush, ADA researches say.» —“Monday Memo” by Gary A. Clark St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri) Aug. 19, 1996. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
When a teenager went a week without talking as part of a school project, he noticed a surprising side effect: Instead of rehearsing a response to what other people were saying to him, he was focused on listening — and feeling smarter as a result...
Diamond dust, tapioca snow, and sugar icebergs — a 1955 glossary of arctic and subarctic terms describes the environment in ways that sound poetic. And a mom says her son is dating someone who’s non-binary. She supports their relationship, but...
Who coined the word??? When???
I’m not certain but I think it was coined in the 1980’s by TV commercial director Ed Libonati who shot a lot of toothpaste spots. He had a bunch of plastic nerdles made that looked like various toothpastes and would hold up under hot lights for product “beauty shots”.