my name is Cos's definitions
A factoid that is false or unsupported by evidence, but gets into public circulation anyway. Once it is repeated and quoted enough times, it gains a life of its own, and people assume it is true because they get it from multiple sources, even though the original source is flawed or unverified, or the information turns out to be false.
One common fictoid is the idea that people need to drink 8 glasses of water a day to be healthy. There's no sound basis for this recommendation, but it is quoted and given as advice frequently.
Recently (as of new years 2009), one of the big news stories has been the collapse of a fraudulent investment fund run by Bernard Madoff, which turned out to be a ponzi scheme. Although it takes months to go through the records to figure out how much money was involved, an initial estimate was that "up to $50 billion dollars may have been lost". Despite the fact that this was an initial best guess rather than the result of actual auditing, and despite the fact that even a clear definition of "money lost" in this case is vague, this $50 billion estimate has become a fictoid, and is being repeated in the press. Plenty of people believe that it is well accepted that $50 billion is the amount of money that was lost in this fraudulent scheme.
Recently (as of new years 2009), one of the big news stories has been the collapse of a fraudulent investment fund run by Bernard Madoff, which turned out to be a ponzi scheme. Although it takes months to go through the records to figure out how much money was involved, an initial estimate was that "up to $50 billion dollars may have been lost". Despite the fact that this was an initial best guess rather than the result of actual auditing, and despite the fact that even a clear definition of "money lost" in this case is vague, this $50 billion estimate has become a fictoid, and is being repeated in the press. Plenty of people believe that it is well accepted that $50 billion is the amount of money that was lost in this fraudulent scheme.
by my name is Cos January 11, 2009
Get the fictoid mug.A hookup or other episode of sex (such as the start of a new involvement) between people who dated or hooked up way back when, lost contact with each other for years, and became reacquainted.
See: http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Life/75527-Are-you-a-retrosexual/
See: http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Life/75527-Are-you-a-retrosexual/
She's not dating anyone right now, but she's had retrosex with two guys she hasn't seen since high school who she found on Facebook recently.
by my name is Cos January 25, 2009
Get the retrosex mug.The sort of unfortunate or amusing coincidence or contradiction that you're tempted to label "irony", but realize isn't actually ironic at all. Named for Alanis Morisette, whose song Ironic contains many examples of alany and none of irony (except for the song as a whole, which is ironic...).
You plan a trip to a faraway city, contact your friend who lives there who you haven't seen in months, and find out she's actually going to be visiting your city that same weekend, so you'll miss each other. Such alany!
by my name is Cos December 14, 2008
Get the alany mug."Somebody Else's Problem", an effectively-magical field that obscures things you think aren't relevant to you, such that even though you see them (or hear them or read them) you don't actually *notice*, and quickly forget.
More generally, the phenomenon that causes people to ignore issues that they know about but think of as either not something they can do anything about, or not personally relevant to them right now. This can result in something that's very important to a group of people being ignored by every individual member of that group.
Popularized by Douglas Adams in the "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" series, in which Ford Prefect describes it as:
"An SEP is something we can't see, or don't see, or our brain doesn't let us see, because we think that it's somebody else's problem.... The brain just edits it out, it's like a blind spot. If you look at it directly you won't see it unless you know precisely what it is. Your only hope is to catch it by surprise out of the corner of your eye."
In that series, a strange object can be effectively hidden from view while out in plain sight, by an "SEP field", which "relies on people's natural predisposition not to see anything they don't want to, weren't expecting, or can't explain."
More generally, the phenomenon that causes people to ignore issues that they know about but think of as either not something they can do anything about, or not personally relevant to them right now. This can result in something that's very important to a group of people being ignored by every individual member of that group.
Popularized by Douglas Adams in the "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" series, in which Ford Prefect describes it as:
"An SEP is something we can't see, or don't see, or our brain doesn't let us see, because we think that it's somebody else's problem.... The brain just edits it out, it's like a blind spot. If you look at it directly you won't see it unless you know precisely what it is. Your only hope is to catch it by surprise out of the corner of your eye."
In that series, a strange object can be effectively hidden from view while out in plain sight, by an "SEP field", which "relies on people's natural predisposition not to see anything they don't want to, weren't expecting, or can't explain."
It's just been sitting there all day, hundreds of people have walked by, and nobody said anything or even turned to look! It's like it's got an SEP field around it.
by my name is Cos August 1, 2008
Get the SEP mug."That Kind Of Party". Often pronounced "teacup" in verbal conversation.
A BDSM or fetish playparty or sex party or similar party.
A BDSM or fetish playparty or sex party or similar party.
Hey, keep your clothes on, this isn't That Kind Of Party!
If I held a TKOP next weekend, would you come?
I'd like to... could I bring my girlfriend?
Do you know a guy named Chris who used to live here and went to TKOPs around here in the 90s?
If I held a TKOP next weekend, would you come?
I'd like to... could I bring my girlfriend?
Do you know a guy named Chris who used to live here and went to TKOPs around here in the 90s?
by my name is Cos August 1, 2008
Get the TKOP mug.To sleep together in the same bed or similar space. Does not imply having sex. It's what "sleep together" would've meant if we hadn't turned it into a slang idiom meaning "to have sex".
"The kids used to cosominate until we got them separate beds when they were 6 and 8."
"You can crash here if you don't mind cosominating. I don't have a spare mattress."
"We just started having sex last week, but we've been cosominating for months."
"You can crash here if you don't mind cosominating. I don't have a spare mattress."
"We just started having sex last week, but we've been cosominating for months."
by my name is Cos October 23, 2007
Get the cosominate mug.To be ignored by someone without purpose or malice. You simply don't register on their radar screen. ::bleep, bleep, bleep::
I played arm-candy sufficiently well to get totally bleeped by a state rep. He said hi, and then utterly ignored me for the rest of the conversation. it was sort of entertainingly disconcerting.
by my name is Cos January 24, 2009
Get the bleeped mug.