[Ads-l] granfalloon update

Mon Apr 10 20:31:29 UTC 2023

In fact, this category is the single biggest point of contention when people contact HDSF about omissions. I do still feel that terms that are only associated with a single work/series/universe, should generally not be included. However, I have allowed myself to be convinced that terms that are _widely known to be associated with a single work_ can be candidates for inclusion.

Some examples that have been in the whole time include Isaac Asimov's _Laws of Robotics_, and a few Tolkienisms such as _primary/secondary world_ and _subcreation_. Examples of single-source terms that I've added after the project launch, as my stubbornness has softened or as I've been badgered into submission, include _spindizzy_, from James Blish's _Cities in Flight_ series; _flux capacitor_, from the _Back to the Future_ series; and _jaunt_, from Alfred Bester's _The Stars My Destination_ (which also turned out to be used more widely than that).

There are a number of Vonnegutisms that are on the list, and that I'll probably include at some point. (_Ice-nine_ is probably at the top of these.)

I do regularly get questions about terms that are really specific to a single thing, and are totally unknown to anyone who didn't read/watch that thing, and I still feel comfortable excluding these. But I appreciate that this is a different category from the more broadly known sort of item that Fred is asking about here.

Jesse Sheidlower

On Mon, Apr 10, 2023 at 07:46:44PM +0000, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
> This reminds me of the threads we have had over the years, in which I have opined that neologisms that are used prominently in important works of fiction or cinema should be included in the OED regardless of whether they have developed figurative usages.  I think Jesse Sheidlower was one of the people who disagreed with me on this, but I see that he does include such neologisms in his great Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.
> 
> Fred Shapiro
> 
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Monday, April 10, 2023 10:05 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: granfalloon update
> 
> Some years ago, Fred noted with disappointment the absence from the OED of
> Kurt Vonnegut's term "granfalloon" from _Cat's Cradle_ (1963). Nor is it in
> online M-W, Collins, etc.
> 
> A search turns up 19,000 raw Googlits. Even more impressive:
> 
> 1991 Anthony R. Pratkanis & Elliott Aronson _Age of Propaganda_ (N.Y.: W.
> H. Freeman) 168: To use a term coined by the American novelist Kurt
> Vonnegut, [social psychologist Henri] Tajfel and his colleagues are
> creating _granfalloons_ - proud and meaningless associations of human
> beings. ...What makes the granfalloon tick?...Similarity among members of
> the granfalloon are emphasized in the descure knowledge that "this is what
> our type does."
> 
>  Pratkanis & Aronson go on to use the term technically and repeatedly.
> 
> It's also gotten the Wikipedia treatment:
> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FGranfalloon&data=05%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C81a9a8d01644448a5bce08db39cca9e3%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638167323413715089%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Oeqvee4Wi931qJeRKxwJW9s3zPKQ0FLQlCdjMnNUxWM%3D&reserved=0<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granfalloon>
> 
> JL
> 
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americandialect.org%2F&data=05%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C81a9a8d01644448a5bce08db39cca9e3%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638167323413715089%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=jxIVs%2BcPURY%2FfGJaDFuCMOlLrxz164kF8GINN0tv1Nc%3D&reserved=0<http://www.americandialect.org/>
> 
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Monday, April 10, 2023 10:05 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: granfalloon update
> 
> Some years ago, Fred noted with disappointment the absence from the OED of
> Kurt Vonnegut's term "granfalloon" from _Cat's Cradle_ (1963). Nor is it in
> online M-W, Collins, etc.
> 
> A search turns up 19,000 raw Googlits. Even more impressive:
> 
> 1991 Anthony R. Pratkanis & Elliott Aronson _Age of Propaganda_ (N.Y.: W.
> H. Freeman) 168: To use a term coined by the American novelist Kurt
> Vonnegut, [social psychologist Henri] Tajfel and his colleagues are
> creating _granfalloons_ - proud and meaningless associations of human
> beings. ...What makes the granfalloon tick?...Similarity among members of
> the granfalloon are emphasized in the descure knowledge that "this is what
> our type does."
> 
>  Pratkanis & Aronson go on to use the term technically and repeatedly.
> 
> It's also gotten the Wikipedia treatment:
> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FGranfalloon&data=05%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C81a9a8d01644448a5bce08db39cca9e3%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638167323413715089%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Oeqvee4Wi931qJeRKxwJW9s3zPKQ0FLQlCdjMnNUxWM%3D&reserved=0<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granfalloon>
> 
> JL
> 
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americandialect.org%2F&data=05%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C81a9a8d01644448a5bce08db39cca9e3%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638167323413715089%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=jxIVs%2BcPURY%2FfGJaDFuCMOlLrxz164kF8GINN0tv1Nc%3D&reserved=0<http://www.americandialect.org/>
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org