Lexical Compendium

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.

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."

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