""Korchevatel" (transliterated from the Russian)

[Joel S. Berson]

How words acquire new meanings -- and a new OTY. (Namely, quoting the
article: "anti-scientific event of the year" (or is it "scientific
anti-event of the year"?).)

The intro to a "SCIgen story"--

Rooter invades Russia
Thursday, January 8, 2009, 12:25 PM
There's an amazing new SCIgen story out of Russia. Below is the full
story, in the words of the mastermind himself, Mikhail Gelfand. But
first, the executive summary:
    * The original Rooter paper, translated into Russian, was
accepted into a nationally accredited journal.
    * The paper received mostly positive reviews.
    * After the revelation that the paper was fake, the story became
a national news sensation. Mikhail even appeared on radio and TV shows.
    * The Russian word for "rooter" ("Korchevatel", a kind of machine
that digs up roots) became synonymous with nonsense and low-quality science.
Now enjoy the story of Korchevatel, as written by Mikhail Gelfand: ...

At  http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/blog/

Joel

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