Lexical Compendium
Wait... what is this? Sometimes I come across a word, phrase, idiom, quote, reference, bit of slang, person of interest, etc that either I don't know or I find amusing, interesting, etc. This is a collection of those items so that I can refer back to them in emails, texts, etc.
Recent Entries:
- : capricious
- : gormless
- : bruxism
Lysine Contingency
The lysine contingency is intended to prevent the spread of the animals in case they ever got off the island. Dr. Wu inserted a gene that creates a single faulty enzyme in protein metabolism. The animals can't manufacture the amino acid lysine. Unless they're continually supplied with lysine by us, they'll slip into a coma and die. --Ray Arnold, Jurassic Park
When I was a kid I read Jurassic Park multiple times. I loved that book.
The Lysine Contingency is a made up concept in the novel Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton and is defined in the quote above. I think it could perhaps be used more generically to describe a deliberately engineered dependency on a single critical input, intended to constrain or control a system’s behavior. I've been thinking about this as it relates to AI and guardrails.
Update August 2026: I re-read Jurassic Park. Still such a great book. Having watched the movie multiple times since I last read the book as a kid, I was struck by how different the Dr. Alan Grant character is in regards to his relationship to children. In the movie he's portrayed as a person who doesn't necessarily enjoy children (at first anyway). In the book he's described as someone who likes children from the very beginning (the book explicitly notes that it is impossible not to like kids who are openly enthusiastic about dinosaurs).
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References:
- Jurassic Park (novel) Reference ID crichton-jurassic-park
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devour feculence
Devour feculence is a "big word" way of saying eat shit.
The phrase was used in S2E9 of the Apple TV+ show Severence. Earlier in the show, the character Mr. Milchick receives a performance review that criticizes him for "using too many big words." The character, played by Tramell Tillman, is black and works for Lumon Industries. Lumon is operated like a cult and, as such, it is a very oppressive environment for most employees. Tensions between Mr. Milchick and Mr. Drummond grow to a head and upon being asked to apologize for his use of large words, he replies with "devour feculence."
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References:
- IMDB: Severence Reference ID imdb-severence
- Severence Wiki: Lumon Industries Reference ID severence-wiki-lumon-industries
- Definition: feculent Reference ID definition-feculent
- Screen Rant blog on "devour feculence" Reference ID screen-rant-blog-on-devour-feculence
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mondo dismo
What is a mondo dismo? Well, it's a man who takes money from stranded women.
From the movie Romancing the Stone:
Joan: You're a mondo dismo
Jack: l'm... what am l? l'm what?
Joan: You're a man who takes money from stranded women
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References:
- IMDB: Romancing the Stone Reference ID imdb-romancing-the-stone
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