APedant's definitions
also Data-blight
The systemic propagation and entrenchment of inaccurate or corrupted personal data across interconnected digital or bureaucratic ecosystems, resulting in material, social, or psychological harm to the affected individual.
In essence, data blight describes how a falsehood, once digitized and networked, acquires bureaucratic immortality. It exposes the fragility of “truth” in algorithmic governance, where records outrank lived reality.
This phenomenon occurs when erroneous information originating in one data source is automatically replicated, shared, or revalidated by other institutions—often through automated data exchange, identity verification, or algorithmic matching—creating a self-reinforcing web of falsehoods. Like biological blight, it spreads through interdependence, exploiting weak governance, poor data hygiene, and the absence of effective correction mechanisms.
Example: An error in one government database—such as misrecording a single person as a married cohabitant—can cascade through banking, taxation, and utilities systems, effectively rewriting the individual’s administrative identity and generating real-world consequences including denial of services, legal misclassification, or reputational harm.
The systemic propagation and entrenchment of inaccurate or corrupted personal data across interconnected digital or bureaucratic ecosystems, resulting in material, social, or psychological harm to the affected individual.
In essence, data blight describes how a falsehood, once digitized and networked, acquires bureaucratic immortality. It exposes the fragility of “truth” in algorithmic governance, where records outrank lived reality.
This phenomenon occurs when erroneous information originating in one data source is automatically replicated, shared, or revalidated by other institutions—often through automated data exchange, identity verification, or algorithmic matching—creating a self-reinforcing web of falsehoods. Like biological blight, it spreads through interdependence, exploiting weak governance, poor data hygiene, and the absence of effective correction mechanisms.
Example: An error in one government database—such as misrecording a single person as a married cohabitant—can cascade through banking, taxation, and utilities systems, effectively rewriting the individual’s administrative identity and generating real-world consequences including denial of services, legal misclassification, or reputational harm.
That error in the Electoral Register has come up again. I'm data blighted and my bank has frozen my accounts.
by APedant October 28, 2025
Get the Data Blight mug.(nounl
Also: Pistol-pedicure, Pistolpedicure
Definition:
When someone spectacularly sabotages themselves while trying to look clever, confident, or in control. The spiritual cousin of “shooting yourself in the foot,” but with added flair, delusion, and gunpowder residue.
Etymology:
Born from the unholy marriage of self-inflicted wounds and personal grooming, because if you’re going to destroy your own credibility, at least make it fashionable.
Usage Notes:
Common among politicians, influencers, and anyone who begins a sentence with “I’m not racist, but—”.
See also:
Self-scorch, ego exfoliation, career colonic, verbal ricochet.
Also: Pistol-pedicure, Pistolpedicure
Definition:
When someone spectacularly sabotages themselves while trying to look clever, confident, or in control. The spiritual cousin of “shooting yourself in the foot,” but with added flair, delusion, and gunpowder residue.
Etymology:
Born from the unholy marriage of self-inflicted wounds and personal grooming, because if you’re going to destroy your own credibility, at least make it fashionable.
Usage Notes:
Common among politicians, influencers, and anyone who begins a sentence with “I’m not racist, but—”.
See also:
Self-scorch, ego exfoliation, career colonic, verbal ricochet.
“Jeff tried to impress his boss by explaining how he would run the company better. Now he’s unemployed and his team threw him a going-away gift card to the unemployment office. Classic Pistol Pedicure.”
by APedant October 18, 2025
Get the Pistol Pedicure mug.(noun)
1. The tragicomic experience of searching for an image online and being served results that are hilariously, horrifyingly, or bewilderingly wrong.
2. Any search engine fail involving images that creates unintended comedy, confusion, or embarrassment.
1. The tragicomic experience of searching for an image online and being served results that are hilariously, horrifyingly, or bewilderingly wrong.
2. Any search engine fail involving images that creates unintended comedy, confusion, or embarrassment.
“I typed ‘cute kittens’ and got a taxidermy exhibit instead—total pixsaster.”
“Be careful what you Google; yesterday’s pixsaster still haunts my chat history.”
“Be careful what you Google; yesterday’s pixsaster still haunts my chat history.”
by APedant October 18, 2025
Get the Pixsaster mug.Etymology: From henchman + puppet, reflecting a subordinate agent deployed to execute the will of a superior while concealing autonomy.
Definition: A pseudonymous online persona, operated singly or by multiple individuals, used by an organization or collective to harass, intimidate, or manipulate a target. Unlike ordinary sockpuppets, HenchPuppets function as digital proxies of an organization, executing strategic harm while maintaining plausible deniability for the sponsoring entity.
Characteristics:
Intentional harm: Primary function is targeted harassment, defamation, or psychological manipulation.
Organizational coordination: May be multi-author or systematically guided by a central entity.
Plausible deniability: Designed to conceal the identity of the true orchestrators.
Weaponized messaging: Posts, replies, and content are strategically timed and emotionally manipulative, often reflecting propaganda techniques.
Definition: A pseudonymous online persona, operated singly or by multiple individuals, used by an organization or collective to harass, intimidate, or manipulate a target. Unlike ordinary sockpuppets, HenchPuppets function as digital proxies of an organization, executing strategic harm while maintaining plausible deniability for the sponsoring entity.
Characteristics:
Intentional harm: Primary function is targeted harassment, defamation, or psychological manipulation.
Organizational coordination: May be multi-author or systematically guided by a central entity.
Plausible deniability: Designed to conceal the identity of the true orchestrators.
Weaponized messaging: Posts, replies, and content are strategically timed and emotionally manipulative, often reflecting propaganda techniques.
"The whistleblower discovered that many hostile comments on their forum were generated by HenchPuppets—accounts tracing back to the cult's PR division."
by APedant August 31, 2025
Get the HenchPuppet mug.Also "Ikeda Derangement Syndrome"(IDS)
noun
1. A memetic condition afflicting members of the Soka Gakkai, marked by irrational, bizarre, and fixated patterns of thought and behavior in relation to Daisaku Ikeda.
2. The tendency to elevate Ikeda to quasi-divine status, to interpret all events through his alleged wisdom, and to react with disproportionate hostility to any criticism of him.
Symptoms include:
Adulation Inflation: Ascribing supernatural foresight or cosmic importance to otherwise banal quotations.
Hostile Reverence: Branding dissenters as “slanderers,” “negative influences,” or “enemies of peace.”
Cognitive Lockstep: Reframing all nuance as betrayal; mistaking uniformity for unity.
Magical Attribution: Treating random life events as confirmation of Ikeda’s protection or “proof of his eternal guidance.”
noun
1. A memetic condition afflicting members of the Soka Gakkai, marked by irrational, bizarre, and fixated patterns of thought and behavior in relation to Daisaku Ikeda.
2. The tendency to elevate Ikeda to quasi-divine status, to interpret all events through his alleged wisdom, and to react with disproportionate hostility to any criticism of him.
Symptoms include:
Adulation Inflation: Ascribing supernatural foresight or cosmic importance to otherwise banal quotations.
Hostile Reverence: Branding dissenters as “slanderers,” “negative influences,” or “enemies of peace.”
Cognitive Lockstep: Reframing all nuance as betrayal; mistaking uniformity for unity.
Magical Attribution: Treating random life events as confirmation of Ikeda’s protection or “proof of his eternal guidance.”
After reading three pages of Ikeda’s speeches, she declared her houseplants were “thriving on Sensei’s eternal life force”—a textbook case of Ikeda-Derangement-Syndrome.
by APedant September 5, 2025
Get the Ikeda-Derangement-Syndrome mug.(noun.)
Etymology: From the Greek glossa (“tongue”) + gnosis (“knowledge”), roughly meaning “your mouth knows more than your mind does.”
Description:
Those afflicted with glossognosia can deploy complex terminology with the precision of a fencing master but cannot, when pressed, explain their own linguistic swordplay.
Common Symptoms:
– Fluent nonsense that sounds suspiciously profound.
– Sudden amnesia when asked for definitions beginning with “technically…”
– The phrase “It’s hard to explain, but you know what I mean.”
– A sense of superiority rapidly followed by existential despair.
– Using “seminal” to describe anything that made an impression.
Diagnosis:
Typically self-diagnosed after a humiliating encounter with someone who owns a dictionary.
Treatment:
– Repeated exposure to etymology until mild shame subsides.
– Controlled reading of actual dictionaries, preferably sober.
– Avoidance of TED Talk addiction.
– Intensive humility therapy.
Prognosis:
Manageable with sustained curiosity and periodic linguistic humility. Prognosis worsens if untreated, leading to advanced stages known as Logorrheic Pretension Syndrome — characterized by using “juxtaposition” to describe literally any contrast.
Social Media Note:
Recently co-opted as a hashtag by influencers describing their “unique brain wiring.”.
Etymology: From the Greek glossa (“tongue”) + gnosis (“knowledge”), roughly meaning “your mouth knows more than your mind does.”
Description:
Those afflicted with glossognosia can deploy complex terminology with the precision of a fencing master but cannot, when pressed, explain their own linguistic swordplay.
Common Symptoms:
– Fluent nonsense that sounds suspiciously profound.
– Sudden amnesia when asked for definitions beginning with “technically…”
– The phrase “It’s hard to explain, but you know what I mean.”
– A sense of superiority rapidly followed by existential despair.
– Using “seminal” to describe anything that made an impression.
Diagnosis:
Typically self-diagnosed after a humiliating encounter with someone who owns a dictionary.
Treatment:
– Repeated exposure to etymology until mild shame subsides.
– Controlled reading of actual dictionaries, preferably sober.
– Avoidance of TED Talk addiction.
– Intensive humility therapy.
Prognosis:
Manageable with sustained curiosity and periodic linguistic humility. Prognosis worsens if untreated, leading to advanced stages known as Logorrheic Pretension Syndrome — characterized by using “juxtaposition” to describe literally any contrast.
Social Media Note:
Recently co-opted as a hashtag by influencers describing their “unique brain wiring.”.
“I don’t have brain fog, I have glossognosia. I speak in vibes, not words.”
“During the seminar, he used poignant, zeitgeist, and liminal perfectly — then someone asked for definitions and he fainted. Classic case of glossognosia.”
“During the seminar, he used poignant, zeitgeist, and liminal perfectly — then someone asked for definitions and he fainted. Classic case of glossognosia.”
by APedant November 3, 2025
Get the Glossognosia mug.noun
Irrational hatred or fear of humans who use technological enhancements—like AI, cybernetics, or prosthetics—to expand their abilities. Especially when aimed at disabled people who overcome physical or cognitive impairment through assistive technology.
Irrational hatred or fear of humans who use technological enhancements—like AI, cybernetics, or prosthetics—to expand their abilities. Especially when aimed at disabled people who overcome physical or cognitive impairment through assistive technology.
“She faced augmentophobia from coworkers who resented her AI-assisted work efficiency.”
"Some truly hated Stephen Hawking because his voice incited their augmentaphobia."
"Some truly hated Stephen Hawking because his voice incited their augmentaphobia."
by APedant November 24, 2025
Get the Augmentophobia mug.