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  1. #1
    Stegodon
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    Default Fictional words in everyday use.

    As you know, Bob
    Quite a few words have made the jump from fiction to everyday use. Probably the most popular example of this is 'Meh', which was apparently first used on The Simpsons; to 'Grok' is another good example. My personal favorite - and one that I use fairly often - is Blerg. I first heard it on 30 Rock, it was both the name of an Ikea-like furniture company in the show and something Liz Lemon would say out of exasperation and, for some reason, it stuck with me.

    So, what are your favorites?

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    Oliphaunt
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    "Grok" is probably my favorite and most oft-used. After that, I'm partial to sci-fi swears: frak, gorram, frelling, et al. A well crafted sci-fi swear provides almost the same visceral satisfaction as a real swear, but won't get me into trouble when my four year old yells it in front of her grandmother. I still use plenty of real swears, though.

    I also love "cromulent", but I'm not sure where it came from.
    Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death? There must have been one. A moment. In childhood. When it first occurred to you that you don't go on forever. Must have been shattering. Stamped into one's memory. And yet, I can't remember it.

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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    Quote Originally posted by WhyNot
    ...

    I also love "cromulent", but I'm not sure where it came from.
    Really? That's a famous Simpsons invention.

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    Free Exy Cluricaun's avatar
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    The Simpsons have added a ton of words to my vocabulary, such as these here. I use "embiggen" a great deal.
    Hell, if I didn't do things just because they made me feel a bit ridiculous, I wouldn't have much of a social life. - Santo Rugger.

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    Oliphaunt
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    Quote Originally posted by Laughing Lagomorph
    Quote Originally posted by WhyNot
    I also love "cromulent", but I'm not sure where it came from.
    Really? That's a famous Simpsons invention.
    Thanks! I'm not a Simpsons watcher (I'm not anti-Simpsons, I just don't have time), but obviously the general culture has provided me with some of their greatest hits!

    Oh, does "misunderestimate" count? Technically, it's a Bushism, not a fictional word, but I like it a lot.
    Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death? There must have been one. A moment. In childhood. When it first occurred to you that you don't go on forever. Must have been shattering. Stamped into one's memory. And yet, I can't remember it.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    "Meh" definitely did not come from the Simpsons, and it's not a word, really. It's a vocalization more like "um" or "uh". It was plenty common well before it was ever prominent on the Simpsons.

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    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    Quote Originally posted by Batman
    I first heard it on 30 Rock, it was both the name of an Ikea-like furniture company in the show and something Liz Lemon would say out of exasperation and, for some reason, it stuck with me.
    Well, to nitpick, it's one of Liz Lemon's favorite "substitute swears". She used it in several episodes, and then it appeared as the name of a piece of furniture from a fictional store (that was, in fact, like Ikea). What made it funny was that they didn't go out of their way to make a joke about it - Liz just said something about how she needed to get around to putting her coffee table\bookshelf\whatever together, and the camera switched to a picture of the box, still sitting unopened in her apartment, covered with dirty clothes. The box had "Blërg" written on the side.

    To actually contribute to the thread, Al Capp (creator of the comic strip Lil’ Abner) either created or made popular the terms "skunk works”, “double whammy”, “druthers”, “schmooze” and “nogoodnik”. In fact, the whole 1950s meme of adding "-nik" to the end of words came from Lil’ Abner, not Sputnik or beatniks, as many believe.

    Oh, and I fully back Excalibre on the whole "'meh' was around long before The Simpsons" thing, too.

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    Curmudgeon OtakuLoki's avatar
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    My first thought was for cromulent. While I am familiar with grok, I don't use it. Honestly, it seems too fluid a word for me to want to use often.

    The made up word I use most, though, is from one of Timothy Zahn's earlier works. For some reason his colony had to reset their calendar, and so added a day to the week: Nultday. I now tell people that I'll do something "next Nultday."

    Of course, we can't forget the various Lewis Carrollisms that have come into common use. Snark, boojum, etc.

  9. #9
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    Quote Originally posted by WhyNot
    "Grok" is probably my favorite and most oft-used. After that, I'm partial to sci-fi swears: frak, gorram, frelling, et al. A well crafted sci-fi swear provides almost the same visceral satisfaction as a real swear, but won't get me into trouble when my four year old yells it in front of her grandmother. I still use plenty of real swears, though.
    I like Frak and Gorram too but I've never caught myself saying them. I think Fuck still get's the point across pretty well.

    Quote Originally posted by tunaman
    Well, to nitpick, it's one of Liz Lemon's favorite "substitute swears". She used it in several episodes, and then it appeared as the name of a piece of furniture from a fictional store (that was, in fact, like Ikea). What made it funny was that they didn't go out of their way to make a joke about it - Liz just said something about how she needed to get around to putting her coffee table\bookshelf\whatever together, and the camera switched to a picture of the box, still sitting unopened in her apartment, covered with dirty clothes. The box had "Blërg" written on the side.
    Really? I guess I never noticed her saying it until that episode.

    Here's another one I like to use: "Strategery", from SNL. It's what I like to call what we do in military and political debates here and over there.

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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    Meh is from the Simpsons? I vaguely remember Lisa saying it, I think.. but it came from that show? Cite?

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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    I use " " on occasion to offer snark congratulations. It's about 7 minutes in the clip for those unfamiliar. But I can't say it has reached any general use.
    You know what they say about assumptions,

    They make an ass out of you and mption.

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    Oliphaunt jali's avatar
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    I use "grok" occasionally. I get blank stares usually.

    The new fictional diety, "Bo".
    They weren't singing....they were just honking.
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    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    Quote Originally posted by Clayton_e
    Meh is from the Simpsons? I vaguely remember Lisa saying it, I think.. but it came from that show? Cite?
    Well, the Wikipedia entry for The Simpsons says:

    The dismissive term "Meh", which was popularized by the show, entered the Collins English Dictionary in 2008.
    and this story from Stuff.co.nz says:

    The phrase “meh” might denote utter boredom but it has the world of wordsmiths very excited.

    The expression of indifference or boredom has earned a place in the 30th edition of the Collins English Dictionary, according to media reports.

    It was chosen from a number of words suggested by the public for inclusion in the iconic dictionary.

    The term is believed to have originated from an episode of The Simpsons where Homer suggests a fieldtrip and Bart and Lisa both reply “meh” and continue to watch TV.

    It has since spread through the internet and has worked its way into common usage.

    The dictionary’s publisher HarperCollins called for the public to submit words that were in common conversational usage but not in the English dictionary.

    “Meh" beat "frenemy", an enemy who pretends to be a friend, "huggles", a combination of a hug and a snuggle and "jargonaut", meaning someone who excessively creates new words, to be included.
    What I should have said in my earlier post was while "meh" had been around for decades (probably), it was popularized by The Simpsons. Now I don't know anymore... I remember using it in high school before OFF* popularized it.

    * - OFF is Internet shorthand for "The Simpsons" (either the TV show, or the actual Simpson family). It stands for "Our Favorite Family". It's much easier to use OFF than {i}The Simpsons{/i} all the time.

  14. #14
    Clueless but well-meaning Hatshepsut's avatar
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    I had no idea "cromulent" came from the Simpsons. I would have pegged that as Roald Dahl creation.

    My contribution: waldos. This is the term for tele-operated manipulation devices - for example, the extended "hands" on a research submarine that people inside might guide to pick something up off the ocean floor.

    It comes from the story "Waldo," by Robert Heinlein, about a brilliant guy with a condition that made his muscles weak and useless, so he invented gloves that he could put his hands into and weakly move them, but the force would be amplified in a set of mechanical hands that would do whatever he did, only with enough strength to actually accomplish something.

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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    Internetz and Interweb.

    I have as my standard "download to" folder on my desktop (a place for the install files for small apps from Download.com and such, mostly) titled "From Internetz".

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    Oliphaunt Rube E. Tewesday's avatar
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    What I find amusing is that "cromulent" has apparently become a perfectly cromulent word.

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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    Quote Originally posted by CairoCarol
    I had no idea "cromulent" came from the Simpsons. I would have pegged that as Roald Dahl creation.

    My contribution: waldos. This is the term for tele-operated manipulation devices - for example, the extended "hands" on a research submarine that people inside might guide to pick something up off the ocean floor.

    It comes from the story "Waldo," by Robert Heinlein, about a brilliant guy with a condition that made his muscles weak and useless, so he invented gloves that he could put his hands into and weakly move them, but the force would be amplified in a set of mechanical hands that would do whatever he did, only with enough strength to actually accomplish something.
    I had no idea either that "cromulent" came from the Simpsons. I could have sworn I had heard it before, but I googled, and apparently it debuted with the Simpsons. I fully expected to see that it came from Alice in Wonderland or something of that style and era.

    I honestly can't think of any fictional word I use on a regular basis. Being a Heinlein fan, I'm familiar with "grok" and "waldo," but can't imagine using either in a conversation with anyone but another hard-core SF fan -- and I don't know any of those in offline life any more.

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    Elephant Wheresgeorge04's avatar
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    I am simply FASCINATED by the number of people who knew the word "cromulent," but not its origins. Kinda neat.

    Joe

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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    I'm an avid geocacher. We post warnings in our cache listings when the cache is placed in a location where muggles abound. And when a cache is destroyed by a non-cacher (which happens way too often), it has been muggled.
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    "D'oh!" has to be one of my all time favorites (and was the first Simpsonism to enter the OED).
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    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    Surely underwhelmed is technically an un real word?
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    Oliphaunt The Original An Gadaí's avatar
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    I like the variation cormulent because my name's Cormac.

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    Maximum Proconsul silenus's avatar
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    I use "frak" quite often. It gets the point across without technically swearing.
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    Quote Originally posted by tunaman
    Quote Originally posted by Batman
    To actually contribute to the thread, Al Capp (creator of the comic strip Lil’ Abner) either created or made popular the terms "skunk works”, “double whammy”, “druthers”, “schmooze” and “nogoodnik”. In fact, the whole 1950s meme of adding "-nik" to the end of words came from Lil’ Abner, not Sputnik or beatniks, as many believe.
    Sorry, but I'm going to have to ask for a cite or something. "-nik" is a Yiddishism, as is "schmooze."

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    Clueless but well-meaning Hatshepsut's avatar
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    Quote Originally posted by MyOwnWorstEnemy
    I honestly can't think of any fictional word I use on a regular basis. Being a Heinlein fan, I'm familiar with "grok" and "waldo," but can't imagine using either in a conversation with anyone but another hard-core SF fan -- and I don't know any of those in offline life any more.
    "Grok" doesn't actually get used by ordinary people in spoken English, I agree. If it were to become popular, we'd all hear it and use it fairly often, because it is a useful concept in everyday life.

    But "waldo" is in a different category - it's not so much that the term is obscure as that the concept rarely comes up. If you worked in a hazmat lab, maybe you'd actually use the term when talking with co-workers.

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    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    Did Seinfeld actually coin the term "schmoopy"? 'Cos I've heard lots of people use it since "The Soup Nazi" episode...

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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    Quote Originally posted by Green Bean
    Sorry, but I'm going to have to ask for a cite or something. "-nik" is a Yiddishism, as is "schmooze."
    Read the quote:

    To actually contribute to the thread, Al Capp (creator of the comic strip Lil’ Abner) either created or made popular the terms "skunk works”, “double whammy”, “druthers”, “schmooze” and “nogoodnik”. In fact, the whole 1950s meme of adding "-nik" to the end of words came from Lil’ Abner, not Sputnik or beatniks, as many believe.
    Empahsis mine.

    I'll take back that Capp "invented" some of those words, but he certainly made them popular. How many people in Iowa knew what "schnooze" meant before Lil' Abner?

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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    How about robotics? A term inadvertently coined by Isaac Asimov, because he thought the word already existed.
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    Quote Originally posted by RobuSensei
    How about robotics? A term inadvertently coined by Isaac Asimov, because he thought the word already existed.

    Wasn't Robot itsself a Hungarian word meaning worker or slave?

    I'm trawling my memory here but I believe that someone called Capeck wrote a story called R.U.R. (Somebody or others Universal Robots) but I could very,very well be wrong.
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    Quote Originally posted by lust4life
    Quote Originally posted by RobuSensei
    How about robotics? A term inadvertently coined by Isaac Asimov, because he thought the word already existed.

    Wasn't Robot itsself a Hungarian word meaning worker or slave?

    I'm trawling my memory here but I believe that someone called Capeck wrote a story called R.U.R. (Somebody or others Universal Robots) but I could very,very well be wrong.
    It might have been a play. IIRC, there was a robot revolution.

    Ah, wiki knows all - Rossum's Universal Robots.

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    In its original Czech, robota means labour. The name Rossum is an allusion to the Czech word rozum, meaning "reason", "wisdom", "intellect" or "common-sense"
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    One of my favorite fictional swears is fairly obscure--it's from Jacqueline Lichtenberg's Sime-Gen series. "Shendi-fleckin'" is, IMO, a very satisfying way to refer to something annoying. "Get that shendi-fleckin' thing out of my face!" The rest of her universe's swear words (shen, shidoni, etc.) never caught on with me, but that one did and I still use it.

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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    What about tanstaafl? Another Larry Niven invention meaning "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch". I've heard people use it and somehow doubt they're all Niven fans.

  33. #33
    Elephant Tuckerfan's avatar
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    Quote Originally posted by BwanaBob
    What about tanstaafl? Another Larry Niven invention meaning "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch". I've heard people use it and somehow doubt they're all Niven fans.
    AFAIK, that's a Heinleinism.
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    Quote Originally posted by tunaman
    Quote Originally posted by Green Bean
    Sorry, but I'm going to have to ask for a cite or something. "-nik" is a Yiddishism, as is "schmooze."
    Read the quote:

    To actually contribute to the thread, Al Capp (creator of the comic strip Lil’ Abner) either created or made popular the terms "skunk works”, “double whammy”, “druthers”, “schmooze” and “nogoodnik”. In fact, the whole 1950s meme of adding "-nik" to the end of words came from Lil’ Abner, not Sputnik or beatniks, as many believe.
    Empahsis mine.

    I'll take back that Capp "invented" some of those words, but he certainly made them popular. How many people in Iowa knew what "schnooze" meant before Lil' Abner?
    I did read the quote. My objection is to your assertion that the "-nik" thing came from Lil' Abner, not that Capp popularized many words.

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    Content Generator AllWalker's avatar
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    Default Re: Fictional words in everyday use.

    Quote Originally posted by Tuckerfan
    Quote Originally posted by BwanaBob
    What about tanstaafl? Another Larry Niven invention meaning "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch". I've heard people use it and somehow doubt they're all Niven fans.
    AFAIK, that's a Heinleinism.
    You're probably thinking of Niven's tanj (there ain't no justice!). I have used this, and when I do it means I am stressed out the point where random parts of my brain are overacting. It's a good word.
    Something tells me we haven't seen the last of foreshadowing.

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