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:
- 01 Jun 2025: Overton window
- 24 May 2025: 86
- 22 May 2025: habeas corpus
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Stockdale Paradox
The Stockdale Paradox is a concept named after Admiral James Stockdale, who survived as a prisoner of war in Vietnam for over seven years. The paradox describes a mindset that balances unwavering faith in a positive outcome with the discipline to confront brutal realities. Stockdale observed that prisoners who relied solely on optimism -- expecting to be freed by Thanksgiving, then New Years, then ... -- often succumbed to despair when their expectations weren’t met. In contrast, those who survived, like himself, maintained hope while also acknowledging and adapting to the harshness of their circumstances.
I'm not sure that I would have read it otherwise, but I worked a company were we were all gifted the book Good to Great by Jim Collins. This is where I first came across the Stockdale Paradox.
I came across it again recently while listening to The Interview (a New York Times podcast) interview of Ed Yong. Ed brought up the Stockdale Paradox as a means for coping with the state of the world right now.
(link to this entry)
References:
- Wikipedia: James Stockdale
- Excerpts from "Good to Great" on the Stockdale Paradox
- NYT (The Interview): Ed Yong
Date Added: 23 Feb 2025
spaghettification
Spaghettification refers to the streching and compressing that occurs as an object passes within a black hole's event horizon. The process was first described by Stephen Hawking in the book "A Brief History of Time."
(link to this entry)
References:
- A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes
- Wikipedia: Spaghettification
- Black hole kills star by 'spaghettification' as telescopes watch
Date Added: 05 Jul 2024
tribology
Tribology is the scientific study of friction, lubrication, and wear between interacting surfaces in relative motion. It blends principles from mechanical engineering, materials science, chemistry, and physics.
The word was coined in 1966 by British mechanical engineer Peter Jost in a report to the UK government titled "Lubrication (Tribology) - A Report on the Present Position and Industry’s Needs". The word is formed from the Greek root tribos meaning rubbing.
During a trip with my brother, he told me about a tribological analysis his firm performed along with a write-up they published and this is how I was introduced to the term.
While looking up the origins of the word tribology, I thought it would fit perfect in an episode of Archer. The characters often use absurdly niche references followed by incredulity when nobody knows the reference.
[Scene: ISIS HQ hallway, someone slips slightly on a recently waxed floor]
Lana: Whoa -- can we not buff the floors like an Olympic luge track?
Archer: Who are you, Peter Jost?
Lana: Who?
Archer: Peter Jost? The father of tribology??
[Everyone stares blankly]
Archer (muttering): Seriously guys, read a book! Well, actually an obscure UK lubrication report from 1966.
(link to this entry)
References:
- Definition: tribology
- Science Direct: tribology
- Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers: What is Tribology
- "The Invention of Tribology: Peter Jost's Contribution" - by John Williams, Robinson College, University of Cambridge
- IMDB: Archer
Date Added: 13 May 2025
Date Modified: 20 May 2025
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!"
From Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky," a poem in "Through the Looking Glass."
The poem was about the capture and killing of a creature called the "Jabberwock" and is filled with many other nonsense terms.
The word "jabberwocky," itself, has come to mean something meaningless in writing.
(link to this entry)
References:
Date Added: Unknown