31 lines
1.9 KiB
Plaintext
31 lines
1.9 KiB
Plaintext
bogon
|
|
|
|
/bohgon/ , n. [very common; by analogy with proton/electron/neutron, but
|
|
doubtless reinforced after 1980 by the similarity to Douglas Adams's Vogons
|
|
; see the Bibliography in Appendix C and note that Arthur Dent actually
|
|
mispronounces Vogons as Bogons at one point] 1. The elementary particle of
|
|
bogosity (see quantum bogodynamics ). For instance, the Ethernet is emitting
|
|
bogons again means that it is broken or acting in an erratic or bogus
|
|
fashion. 2. A query packet sent from a TCP/IP domain resolver to a root
|
|
server, having the reply bit set instead of the query bit. 3. Any bogus or
|
|
incorrectly formed packet sent on a network. 4. By synecdoche, used to refer
|
|
to any bogus thing, as in I'd like to go to lunch with you but I've got to
|
|
go to the weekly staff bogon. 5. A person who is bogus or who says bogus
|
|
things. This was historically the original usage, but has been overtaken by
|
|
its derivative senses 1--4. See also bogosity , bogus ; compare psyton , fat
|
|
electrons , magic smoke. The bogon has become the type case for a whole
|
|
bestiary of nonce particle names, including the clutron or cluon
|
|
(indivisible particle of cluefulness, obviously the antiparticle of the
|
|
bogon) and the futon (elementary particle of randomness , or sometimes of
|
|
lameness). These are not so much live usages in themselves as examples of a
|
|
live meta-usage: that is, it has become a standard joke or linguistic
|
|
maneuver to explain otherwise mysterious circumstances by inventing nonce
|
|
particle names. And these imply nonce particle theories, with all their
|
|
dignity or lack thereof (we might note parenthetically that this is a
|
|
generalization from (bogus particle) theories to bogus (particle theories)
|
|
!). Perhaps such particles are the modern-day equivalents of trolls and
|
|
wood-nymphs as standard starting-points around which to construct
|
|
explanatory myths. Of course, playing on an existing word (as in the futon )
|
|
yields additional flavor. Compare magic smoke.
|
|
|