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.

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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

86

I think that, to most people, to 86 someone means to eject them or refuse them service. I've heard this term and seen it employed many a time at dive bars.

According to Merriam-Webster and also the OED, it's original origins were likely from Cockney rhyming slang where 86 rhymes with nix.

In the early 20th century, the term was used by cafes and bars to denote when they were out of something and was part of a whole system of numeric codes.

In recent years, the slang "86" has taken on political overtones. During Donald Trump’s presidency, the phrase "86 45" emerged as a form of protest—most notably when Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer appeared on Meet the Press wearing a pin that read "8645." The slogan persisted into Joe Biden’s presidency with "86 46," and now, in 2025, it has resurfaced again as "86 47."

In May 2025, former FBI chief James Comey was questioned by the Secret Service after sharing an image on social media that showed seashells arranged to spell out "86 47." Comey later deleted the post after people, including President Trump himself, alleged that it was some sort of call for violence.


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References:

  1. The Guardian: Comey says ‘8647’ post that caused Trump firestorm was totally innocent
  2. NYT: Secret Service Is Asking Comey About a Photo of Seashells Spelling ‘86 47’
  3. Definition: eighty-six
  4. Wikipedia: 86 (term)
  5. Detroit Free Press: What is '8645'? Whitmer's pin an anti-Trump message using restaurant industry slang

Tags: slang , vocabulary , politics

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Findlandization

Findlandization is the process by which a country maintains its formal independence while being heavily influenced or constrained by the policies of a more powerful neighboring state, especially in its foreign policy.

The name comes from Finland's relationship with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, where Finland avoided antagonizing the USSR to preserve its sovereignty.

The term is used pejoratively.

I first heard this term in an interview President Biden gave to MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell in which Biden recalled a conversation with Putin in which Putin was predicting the Findlandization of Europe.


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References:

  1. Wikipedia: Finlandization
  2. The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, 16 Jan 2025 - Biden shares 'serious concern' for U.S. democracy in Oval Office interview with Lawrence O'Donnell
  3. Definition: Finlandization

Tags: vocabulary , politics

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Overton window

The Overton window is the range of topics that are considered acceptable or "mainstream" at a point in time. The term is used in political discourse and it implies that politicians can only advocate for policies within this window without risking their careers.

The window can shift: ideas that were once fringe (i.e. like women’s suffrage) can move into the window as social norms evolve. Conversely, ideas that were once mainstream can fall out of favor and become politically toxic.

The term is named after Joseph Overton, a vice president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy (1992-2003). To help with his fund-raising duties he designed a brochure describing what eventually became known as the Overton window. His view was that think tanks should be pushing policies that fall outside the window and help to shift the window.

When listening to policy wonks debate politics, this term seems to come up quite a bit.


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References:

  1. Wikipedia: Overton window
  2. Wikipedia: Joseph Overton
  3. Mackinac Center Blog: What is the Overton Window?
  4. Tweet: @elonmusk 20 Mar 2025 - That fresh breeze you feel is the wide open Overton Window

Tags: vocabulary , politics , podcast , eponymous

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abrogate

I won't abrogate my duties as a journalist...

I heard the above while listening to the news and had to look up the word abrogate. By context clues, it's obvious that one meaning of this word is to abandon one's responsibilities.

The more common use is in a legal context and here it means to abolish a law.

And there's also a medical use, where it is used in the context of suppressing an immune response (...strategies to abrogate antibody production...).


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References:

  1. Definition: abrogate

Tags: vocabulary , abrogate

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agnotology

Somewhat recently my brother introduced me to this word. Agnotology is the study of how ignorance is deliberately produced, particularly through the publication of inaccurate or misleading information.

This is precisely the type of word I love learning about. As of October 2025, I’ve been thinking a lot about how social media, news journalism, and even scientific publishing shape what we know -- and what we don’t.

Agnotology was coined in 1992 by Iain Boal at the request of Robert Proctor. Proctor writes about this in the postscript of his Agnotology: A Missing Term to Describe the Cultural Production of Ignorance (and Its Study)[1]:

Some time into this project I learned that there already was a word that has been used to designate the study of ignorance, albeit with a quite different slant from how we shall be using the term. Apart from being obscure and somewhat inharmonious, agnoiology has often been taken to mean "the doctrine of things of which we are necessarily ignorant" in some profound metaphysical sense. My hope for devising a new term was to suggest the opposite, namely, the historicity and artifactuality of non-knowing and the non-known-and the potential fruitfulness of studying such things. In 1992, I posed this challenge to the linguist Iain Boal, and it was he who came up with the term agnotology, in the spring of that year.

Proctor, a Professor of the History of Science at Stanford, is best known for uncovering how the tobacco industry manipulated scientific research to keep the public ignorant of its harms [8] -- a quintessential example of manufactured doubt.

I suspect he intended agnotology to be applied to the scientific realm, but I think it works nicely when thinking about this topic generally. When the Trump administration repeatedly cites false data, that's an agnogenic practice -- the deliberate creation of ignorance.

Similarly alarming, credulously contrarian Bari Weiss (founder of "The Free Press") was recently named CBS News' new editor-in-chief [3], reporting directly to CEO David Ellison (Larry Ellison’s son). Larry, meanwhile, is part of the group overseeing U.S. operations of TikTok [4] -- a platform where an astonishing percentage of young people now get their news. [5] Add to that RFK Jr.'s steady promotion of half-baked "research" [6] to push his agenda, and it feels as though we’re barreling toward a Ray Bradbury–esque dystopia -- one where ignorance isn’t accidental, but curated. (And we didn't even touch the accelerating ease of deepfake generation. [7])

I think that agnotology dovetails with another Lexicon entry: Bespoke Reality. One concept explains how ignorance is manufactured, the other how it becomes personalized. Together they describe the feedback loop of our time -- ignorance produced at scale, then force-fed to everyone in their individual feed.


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References:

  1. Agnotology: A Missing Term to Describe the Cultural Production of Ignorance (and Its Study)
  2. Wikipedia: Agnotology
  3. Independent: John Oliver skewers Paramount for hiring ‘irresponsible’ Bari Weiss to run CBS News
  4. Reuters: Lachlan Murdoch, Michael Dell, Ellison involved in TikTok deal, Trump says
  5. Pew Research Center: TikTok users’ experiences with news on the platform
  6. Scientific American: RFK, Jr., Says Tylenol Use for Circumcision Causes Autism. Here’s Why That Claim Is Flawed
  7. Vox: OpenAI’s Sora 2 is an unholy abomination
  8. Tobacco Control: "Everyone knew but no one had proof": tobacco industry use of medical history expertise in US courts, 1990-2002

Tags: vocabulary , politics , jargon

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alacrity

Alacrity means to respond or act with zeal and promptness.

It comes to English from the Latin alacritās, meaning liveliness or eagerness.

An example:

The team responded to the urgent call with alacrity, eager to prove their capability.

Another example, from a New Republic article from July 2025:

The Democratic Party also needs some of its members and best-known figures to start seeding the earth with the future they envision if they return to power. This begins with paving the way for “CTRL+Z 2028”—a promise to undo the damage done to the civil service with the same alacrity and doggedness with which Trump and his flunky Elon Musk destroyed it.


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References:

  1. Definition: alacrity
  2. New Republic: The Democrats Finally Have a Plan to Attack Trump. Sort of.
  3. Etymology: alacrity

Tags: vocabulary , tipofmytongue

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albedo

Albedo is the measure of reflectivity of a surface, specifically Earth's ability to reflect solar radiation back into space. It is expressed as a percentage, with higher albedo indicating greater reflectivity.

I first came across this term while reading a SciTechDaily post about how scientists have a theory as to why global warming in 2023 exceeded predictions. The year 2023 was also had a record-low albedo.


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References:

  1. SciTechDaily: Scientists Discover Explanation for the Unusually Sudden Temperature Rise in 2023
  2. Science: Recent global temperature surge intensified by record-low planetary albedo
  3. Wikipedia: Albedo

Tags: science , vocabulary

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anathema

An anathema is something or someone that is abhorrent or extremely disliked.

I came across this word while reading an essay, "'Weird' Should Not Be An Insult."

Using “weird” as an insult ought to be anathema to Democrats.

Leading up to the 2024 presidential election, Democrats took to calling Republicans (especially Donald Trump and his VP candidate JD Vance) weird. (And the Republican retort seems to be: "I'm not weird, you are.")

While writing this, it's too early to know whether or not this tact will pay off.

The word anathema has its origins in the Greek word anatithenai, meaning "to dedicate." In the "Old Testament" of "The Bible," the word anathema is sometimes used in this way. Interestingly, the meaning of the word shifted to mean something accursed or repulsive and translated into Hebrew as herem. We see this meaning in the "New Testament" of "The Bible."

The ecclesiastical meaning of the word still exists today (it's the second definition in Merriam-Webster's dictionary). A more prominent use in English, though, is something that is vehemently disliked.


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References:

  1. Definition: anathema
  2. "Weird" Should Not Be An Insult
  3. 'Anathema' has had opposite meanings since its Greek birth

Tags: vocabulary

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anodyne

Something that is anodyne is not likely to provoke dissent or offense. The word is often used metaphorically to describe a tactful way of communicating something. When used this way, the word is mildly pejorative in that anodyne content is typically boring, watered-down and so deliberately inoffensive that it has lost any real substance or edge.

The word comes from the Greek anōdynos, meaning "painless."


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References:

  1. Definition: anodyne

Tags: vocabulary , tipofmytongue

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antipathy

Antipathy is a deep and strong dislike for something.

While composing a message, I was trying to figure out which of these two words fit my sentiment more accurately: antipathy and animosity. I had the realization that I wasn't really sure what the difference was. While trying to figure that out, I came across this old opinion piece:

Some people are irritated by the weirdest things.

Wow! He summed up exactly how I feel about mourning doves -- and all pigeons generally. (I do, however, own an Argus.)

Unfortunately though, I'm still not sure I know the difference between antipathy and animosity.


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References:

  1. Washington Post: Some people are irritated by the weirdest things.
  2. Definition: antipathy

Tags: vocabulary , tipofmytongue

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