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 fictoidmug. Like a non-sequitur, a pre-sequitur doesn't follow what immediately preceded it, but instead relates to something that came much earlier. It is a sudden or jarring break in the chronology, but it does follow... when you remember what it refers to.
Jen: Why did you leave Los Angeles?
Keith: Well... have you ever lived there?
Jen: I visited once, for a week. I liked the street performers on the boardwalk...
Keith: Oh, the boardwalk is where I got this red scarf!
Jen: I was trying to knit a scarf just like that last year but I never finished.
Keith: Where do you get yarn around here?
Jen: There's a good store just a few blocks from here, wanna come see?
... ten minutes later ...
Jen: Huh, do you smell Indian food?
Keith: Hmm, not really... but now I'm in the mood to get some Indian Food.
Jen: Sure, let's!
Keith: It was the pollution, that's why.
Jen: pollution?
Keith: Yeah, I wanted somewhere with real air, and LA wasn't it!
Jen: Oh, why you left Los Angeles
Keith: Well... have you ever lived there?
Jen: I visited once, for a week. I liked the street performers on the boardwalk...
Keith: Oh, the boardwalk is where I got this red scarf!
Jen: I was trying to knit a scarf just like that last year but I never finished.
Keith: Where do you get yarn around here?
Jen: There's a good store just a few blocks from here, wanna come see?
... ten minutes later ...
Jen: Huh, do you smell Indian food?
Keith: Hmm, not really... but now I'm in the mood to get some Indian Food.
Jen: Sure, let's!
Keith: It was the pollution, that's why.
Jen: pollution?
Keith: Yeah, I wanted somewhere with real air, and LA wasn't it!
Jen: Oh, why you left Los Angeles
by my name is Cos November 28, 2007
Get the pre-sequiturmug. When two people are cuddling in bed, three arms have somewhere to be but the fourth arm is in the way. It's the extra arm.
"I've always wondered exactly what to do with that extra arm. I've tried curling it up between us, putting it above my head under the pillow, straightening it between us and the only thing that seems to work is just putting it behind me."
-- metafilter posting
-- metafilter posting
by my name is Cos October 23, 2007
Get the extra armmug. More extreme version of meatatarian (alternate spelling: meagan).
A vegetarian doesn't eat meat; a vegan eats only fruits and vegetables.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, a meatarian wants meat in every meal; a meagan not only wants meat in every meal, but avoids the veggies altogether.
A vegetarian doesn't eat meat; a vegan eats only fruits and vegetables.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, a meatarian wants meat in every meal; a meagan not only wants meat in every meal, but avoids the veggies altogether.
We have a really hard time having dinner together, because I'm a vegetarian and she's megan, so she doesn't like anything I want to eat!
by my name is Cos June 3, 2008
Get the meganmug. You've been accumulating cruft year after year, a gnawing sense in the back of your mind that someday you'll have to do something with this stuff. Actually getting down to looking through it all, one by one, and throwing out everything you're never going to use: the decrapification of your apartment.
I know him, I took his Apple Unix when he was in New York.
Oh, yeah, that was when I moved out of the Brooklyn apartment. That was round one of the great decrapification.
Decrapification was the project for 2007, and oh my god the stuff we got rid of!
Oh, yeah, that was when I moved out of the Brooklyn apartment. That was round one of the great decrapification.
Decrapification was the project for 2007, and oh my god the stuff we got rid of!
by My name is Cos January 13, 2008
Get the decrapificationmug. 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 retrosexmug. 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 bleepedmug.