The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):
creeping featuritis
/kree'ping fee'?chr?i:`t@s/, n.
Variant of creeping featurism, with its own spoonerization: feeping
creaturitis. Some people like to reserve this form for the disease as it
actually manifests in software or hardware, as opposed to the lurking
general tendency in designers' minds. (After all, -ism means ?condition? or
?pursuit of?, whereas -itis usually means ?inflammation of?.)
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
creeping featuritis
/kree'ping fee'-chr-i:`t*s/ A variant of creeping
featurism, with its own spoonerism: "feeping creaturitis".
Some people like to reserve this form for the disease as it
actually manifests in software or hardware, as opposed to
the lurking general tendency in designers' minds. -ism means
"condition" or "pursuit of", whereas -itis usually means
"inflammation of".
[Jargon File]
(1997-08-03)