pataphor 

An extended metaphor that creates its own context.

Created by Paul Avion and based on Alfred Jarry's science of 'pataphysics (the science of that which extends beyond metaphysics), a pataphor attempts to create a figure of speech that exists as far from metaphor as metaphor exists from non-figurative language.

Also, when an idea seems to take on a life of its own.

An assumption based on an assumption.

2 degrees of separation from reality.

"When the new teacher snubbed me, I thought it was because I failed the test.

When I learned the teacher hadn't seen me, I realized I had been thinking in pataphor, creating an assumption based on an assumption."

"That's all in your mind, fool; strictly pataphor."

"Because string theory is speculation based on ideas that are themselves speculative (i.e., theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics), quantum calculations are, increasingly, not describing an actual reality, but are mathematical pataphors." See also pataphysics.

pataphor by JBlum December 9, 2008

pataphor 

A metaphor that creates its own context.

Dude, you're so out there you're speaking in pataphor(s).

pataphor by Pat M456 June 29, 2007

pataphysics 

'Pataphysics, a term coined by the French writer Alfred Jarry, is a philosophy dedicated to studying what lies beyond the realm of metaphysics. It is a parody of the theory and methods of modern science and is often expressed in nonsensical language. A practitioner of 'pataphysics is a 'pataphysician or a 'pataphysicist.

'Pataphysics is also defined by Jarry as the "science of imaginary solutions."

According to Jarry, the apostrophe (') is always added before the word to avoid a pun in French.

(The exact pun to be avoided is the subject of some debate. The debate itself -- being, in essense, a debate about a subject which may not truly exist, but exist as another joke by Jarry -- might itself be considered a 'pataphysical search, for an "imaginary solution" to an imaginary problem!)

Because string theory is speculation based on ideas that are themselves speculative (i.e., theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics), string theory is not in fact physics, but 'pataphysics.

Likewise, string theory and quantum calculations are, increasingly, not descriptive of an actual reality, but are simply mathematical pataphors. (P. Lopez) See also pataphor.

pataphysics by JBlum December 9, 2008

pataphysic 

Pataphysics is a term coined by the French writer Alfred Jarry, a philosophy dedicated to studying what lies beyond the realm of metaphysics. It is a parody of the theory and methods of modern science and is often expressed in nonsensical language. A practitioner of pataphysics is a pataphysician or a pataphysicist. Pataphysic (contraction of the greek "epì tà metà tà phusiká") means "what is close of what is after physics".

John: hey did you know that one of the fundamental principles of 'pataphysic is equivalence?

Bob: Dude WTF!?

pataphysic by Louis M. December 15, 2008

pataphor 

a speculation based on a speculation, created by Paul Avion
a metaphor that creates its own context
a better way of saying b.s.

That's a bunch of pataphor

pataphor by w00ts July 19, 2007

Petaphor

A group of 2 or more pedophiles.

There is a large group of pedophiles, also known as a petaphor, meeting in our neighborhood weekly.

Petaphor by RandoP July 19, 2022

Pataphysics

The science of imaginary solutions, founded by French writer Alfred Jarry. Pataphysics studies what lies beyond metaphysics—the realm of exceptions, the laws governing exceptions, and the universe supplementary to this one. Where physics studies general laws (what happens most of the time), pataphysics studies the particular, the unique, the exception that proves no rule. It's the science of the clinamen, the swerve, the detail that doesn't fit. Pataphysics is serious and absurd simultaneously, a mock-discipline that reveals how all disciplines are partly mock, partly real, and entirely constructed.

"Physics explains why this apple fell. Pataphysics explains why this specific apple, at this exact moment, landed slightly left of where gravity predicted, and what that means for the apple's inner life. It's not nonsense—it's the science of the nonsense that makes sense of everything else."

Pataphysics by Dumu The Void February 24, 2026