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:
trust, but verify
Trust, but verify is a maxim popularized by US President Ronald Reagon during the Cold War in the 1980s. It's US-origin comes from the Russian proverb, "doveryai, no proveryai." Reagon repeated this frequently during meetings leading up to the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
More recently the phrase has evolved to never trust, always verify (i.e. "Zero Trust") in cybersecurity circles, due to increased risks. [2]
In February of 2026, on the subject of Iran nuclear treaties, Netanyahu gave the message to Trump: "Distrust. Distrust, and always verify." [3]
(link to this entry)
References:
- Wikipedia: Trust, but verify Reference ID wikipedia-trust-but-verify
- NIST: Zero Trust Cybersecurity: 'Never Trust, Always Verify' Reference ID nist-zero-trust
- Times of Israel: Netanyahu: Trump determined to exhaust all options on Iran; I am skeptical Reference ID timesofisrael-trump-determined-exhaust
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vibecoding
Vibecoding (also vibe coding) is the act of developing software by purely defining a project and letting AI do the work.
The term was popularized earlier this year (in 2025) by OpenAI founding member Andrej Karpathy. It has since taken off and I hear it everywhere.
The NYT's Kevin Roose wrote an article on his experience with vibecoding and also covered it in an episode of Hard Fork.
Update May 2025: added Freethink's piece about the technical and cultural shift happening around vibecoding.
(link to this entry)
References:
- Wikipedia: vibe coding Reference ID wikipedia-vibe-coding
- NYT: Not a Coder? With A.I., Just Having an Idea Can Be Enough Reference ID nyt-not-a-coder-with-ai-just-having-an-idea-can-be
- Tweet: @karpathy 02 Feb 2025 - @karpathy's tweet about "vibe coding" Reference ID tweet-karpathy-02-feb-2025
- Hard Fork: Is Google Search Cooked? + We're Getting a U.S. Crypto Reserve? + What You're Vibecoding Reference ID hard-fork-is-google-search-cooked-were-getting-a-u
- Freethink: Vibe coding is rewriting the rules of technology Reference ID freethink-vibe-coding-is-rewriting-the-rules-of-te
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wagwan
Wagwan means "what's going on" and is Jamaican/English slang. It seems to have originated from Jamaican Creole wah gwan ("what go on").
I first heard this while watching Supacell, where it's used prolifically in the dialog.
(link to this entry)
References:
- IMDB: Supacell Reference ID imdb-supacell
- What does wagwan mean? Reference ID what-does-wagwan-mean
- Definition: wagwan Reference ID definition-wagwan
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"What ho! She bumps!"
I came across this bit of old-timey slang in the television show "The Artful Dodger." It means something like, "Wow! It works!"
(link to this entry)
References:
- IMDB: The Artful Dodger Reference ID imdb-the-artful-dodger
Date Added: Unknown