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:

Tag Cloud eponymous grammar science technology television vocabulary ai acronym internet music comics software podcast slang games quote idiom entomology jargon computer-science netspeak space tipofmytongue politics movie history legal

Bees?

There is a "Cards Against Humanity" card that simply reads: "Bees?" It's so fatuous that it has become a common expression for me.

Some on the internet believe that this is a reference to an "Arrested Development" episode.


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References:

  1. Cards Against Humanity
  2. Arrested Development clip - perhaps the origin of the card

Tags: games , entomology

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Streisand Effect

The Streisand Effect is the phenomenon where the harder someone tries to suppress information, the more attention it ends up getting. The term originated in early internet culture after Barbra Streisand attempted to suppress photographs of her Malibu home in 2003 by suing a photographer. Before the lawsuit, the photo had been downloaded exactly six times. After the lawsuit became public? Over 400,000 views in a single month.4 What was meant to be hidden instead became famous.

In July 2025, The Epstein Files consumed much of the news cycle. Donald Trump and his administration had campaigned on the promise of releasing these files to the public. But Trump seemingly flip-flopped on the issue, instead urging his followers to simply "move on." The result: a rift in the MAGA world. Far-right activist Laura Loomer remarked, "The more Truth Social posts that are posted about this are going to create a Streisand effect."


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References:

  1. Definition: Streisand Effect
  2. Wikipedia: Streisand effect
  3. Politico: Playbook: Trump world searches for off-ramp on Epstein
  4. Techdirt: Turns Out Barbra Streisand Is Aware Of The Streisand Effect, But Seems Confused About It
  5. Independent: Fox & Friends does just what Trump wants – they pretend the Epstein fiasco doesn’t exist

Tags: slang , politics , eponymous , internet , netspeak

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bespoke reality

"Bespoke realities" is a term used by David French in a NYT op-ed. The op-ed describes a phenomenon that is bigger (and perhaps more dangerous) than quirky little "confined" conspiracy theories.

There is a fundamental difference between, on the one hand, someone who lives in the real world but also has questions about the moon landing and, on the other, a person who believes the Covid vaccines are responsible for a vast number of American deaths and Jan. 6 was an inside job and the American elite is trying to replace the electorate with new immigrant voters and the 2020 election was rigged and Donald Trump is God’s choice to save America.

Such individuals don’t simply believe in a conspiracy theory or theories. They live in a “bespoke reality.” That brilliant term comes from my friend Renée DiResta, the technical research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory, and it refers to the effects of what DiResta calls a “Cambrian explosion of bubble realities,” communities “that operate with their own norms, media, trusted authorities and frameworks of facts.”

-- French, David. Welcome to Our New ‘Bespoke Realities', NYT, 30 Nov 2023

I heard reference to this on a Hard Fork podcast episode on which Renée DiResta was a guest, A Surgeon General Warning, The Disinformation Battle and The Rise of CryptoPACs, 21 Jun 2024.


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References:

  1. NYT: Welcome to Our New ‘Bespoke Realities’
  2. Our ‘Bespoke Realities’
  3. Hard Fork: A Surgeon General Warning, The Disinformation Battle and The Rise of CryptoPACs
  4. Renée DiResta - home page
  5. Stanford Internet Observatory

Tags: op-ed , disinformation , podcast

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groyper

A groyper is a member of a loosely organized far-right, predominately male, online subculture centered around nationalist, reactionary, and often overtly extremist ideology (antisemitism, neo-Nazism, etc). [3]

In the fall of 2025, this term has been in the news because of an interview that Tucker Carlson gave to Nick Fuentes.[6] Nick Fuentes is considered to be the front man of the groyper group.[7]

The word groyper comes from the name of this group's symbol or mascot -- a cartoon frog. In 2005 Matt Furie created the character Pepe the Frog for his "Boy's Club" comic, which he originally published on his MySpace page.[8] This character became memeified and many variants arose -- one of which was Groyper. The groyper movement is internet-native and this frog is used to signal membership and to mark online posts as “in-group” communications.

How prevalent is this community? In November 2025, conservative writer Rod Dreher made the claim that 30-40% of conservative Gen Z staffers on Capitol Hill and in the Trump administration are Groypers on his Substack and then later in a published piece for The Free Press.[2]

I was inspired to write this entry after listening to Ezra Klein interview John Gan in a piece he called The ‘Groyperfication’ of the G.O.P..[1]


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References:

  1. NYT: The 'Groyperfication' of the G.O.P.
  2. Substack: Rod Dreher - What I Saw And Heard In Washington
  3. NYT: Who Are the 'Groypers'?
  4. The Atlantic: The Nick Fuentes Spiral
  5. Richard Hanania's Newsletter: Groypers Are Just More Honest MAGAs - right-wing personality and contributor to "Project 2025"
  6. YouTube: The Tucker Carlson Show - The Nick Fuentes Interview
  7. Wikipedia: Nick Fuentes
  8. Wikipedia: Pepe the Frog

Tags: slang , politics , internet

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