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The "mokita" thread reminded me of another curious word: fnord. Is this a "real" word or just a fanboy in-joke among those who've read The Illuminatus! Trilogy(Can anyone find a citation?)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I found this on whatis.techtarget.com :
fnord
Certain words are intended to be undefinable and "fnord" is one of them. First used in Robert Anton Wilson's trilogy, The Illuminati Papers, fnord has developed a group of devotees that meet at certain pages in cyberspace to celebrate the word's sense of the apparent but indefinite. The editors of whatis.com have spent far too much chasing the meaning of this elusive term, and this is what we are left with:
Fnord is the space between the pixels on your screen.
Fnord is the "ooo" in varooom of race cars.
Fnord is the smallest number greater than zero.
Fnord keeps a spare eyebrow in his pocket.
In Wilson's trilogy, (based on reports from users), truth is revealed to those who know where to look. The enlightened can see fnord in the empty spaces between unjustified columns of text in newspapers and magazines. Called sticky spots, these spaces are not really blank, but contain fnord, visible only to those privy to heavily guarded secrets and occult powers. Fans of the novel began using the word as a private joke and the concept spread to many who had never read the book but had no trouble discovering new places where fnord must clearly exist.
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Quote:
Fnord keeps a spare eyebrow in his pocket.
That sounds very Dada.
The idea is, I think, that "fnord" is a word inserted into texts to which readers have been programmed by (of course) a massive conspiracy in mind-control to react hostilely to, and, a second later, forget that they have read that word, thereby attributing their hostility to the subject of the text. In other words, it is a media implement of unconscious coercion, but, obviously, since no one remembers what the actual word is, "fnord" means what the "X" in "X-ray" used to mean ("unknown").
I was just wondering if it was ever used outside of a discussion about the Illuminati.
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