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

edgelord

Edgelord is a term that combines edge (as in "edgy") with "-lord." It is 'net-speak for someone who deliberately makes provocative and nihilistic statements in order to appear rebellious or shocking.

It seems to have originated in the early 2000s on online forums like Reddit.

In September 2025, there was a shooting at an ICE facility in Houston, TX. As motives for the shooter were investigated, he was described as an edgelord.


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References:

  1. Ken Klippenstein: Exclusive: The ICE Shooter’s Politics
  2. CNN: Dallas ICE facility shooting leaves 1 detainee dead and 2 more injured, officials say
  3. The Guardian: I’ve learned a new word – and now I’m seeing the people it describes everywhere
  4. Definition: edgelord

Tags: games , politics

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elision

An elision is the omission of a sound or syllable when speaking (i.e. "I'm" for "I am"). It can also refer to the deliberate omission of something.

The word comes from the Latin elisio meaning "a striking out."

Examples:

  • His account of the events was marked by a conspicuous elision of blame.
  • I shoulda called you yesterday.

The Seinfeld episode "The Yadda Yadda" uses an elision to skip over the best part.


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References:

  1. Definition: elision
  2. IMDB: Seinfeld S8-E19 "The Yadda Yadda"

Tags: vocabulary , grammar

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Engels' Pause

Engels' Pause is a period during the early Industrial Revolution (1790–1840) in England in which economic productivity and GDP per capita rose significantly, but real wages for the working class stagnated or even declined. It was named after Friederich Engles and coined by Robert C. Allen.

Many have theorized that AI will bring about similar changes for today's workers.


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References:

  1. Wikipedia: Engels' Pause
  2. YouTube: Open AI Founder Sam Altman on Artificial Intelligence's Future | Exponentially - Azeem Azhar interviews OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in 2023 and brings up Engels' Pause.
  3. Aberdeen Investments: How is AI going to change the economy?

Tags: ai , jargon , eponymous , economics

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enshittification

Enshittification is the progressive decay of an online platform or service as it prioritizes profit extraction over user experience.

The term was originally coined by Cory Doctorow in 2023 in an essay titled The ‘Enshittification’ of TikTok [1] in which he wrote:

Here is how platforms die: First, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.

I call this enshittification, and it is a seemingly inevitable consequence arising from the combination of the ease of changing how a platform allocates value, combined with the nature of a "two-sided market," where a platform sits between buyers and sellers, hold each hostage to the other, raking off an ever-larger share of the value that passes between them.


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References:

  1. Wired: The ‘Enshittification’ of TikTok
  2. Wikipedia: Enshittification
  3. The New Yorker: The Age of Enshittification
  4. YouTube @TheAdamConover: The Ensh*ttification of Everything with Cory Doctorow
  5. Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It - Doctorow, Cory. New York: MCD / Macmillan, 2025.

Tags: slang , vocabulary , technology

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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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Floyd Hole

In the Venture Bros episode "Perchance to Dean," Dr. Venture introduces Dean to progressive rock (including one of my favorites, King Crimson!). He leaves Dean and comes back later to find that he's fallen unconscious. Dr. Venture screams, "He's fallen into a Floyd Hole!"

The term "Floyd Hole," now refers to the act of losing track of time while consuming media.

For example, "It's already 4PM?? I fell into a Floyd Hole watching YouTube!"


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References:

  1. Venture Bros: Perchance to Dream
  2. Wikipedia: Pink Floyd

Tags: quote , television , eponymous

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"Focus on the things that make your beer taste better"

A quote from Jeff Bezos during the 2008 YC Startup School.

Bezos made an analogy between AWS and breweries, at the turn of the 20th century when electricity had just been invented. These early breweries started generating their own power to leverage machines that ran on electricity. Soon, utility companies came along. Newer breweries that were able to just use electricity from the utility companies didn't have the capital expenses of the older breweries and were able to beat them.

I heard of this analogy from the Acquired podcast.


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References:

  1. YouTube: Footage from the '08 Startup School
  2. Acquired: The Playbook: Lessons from 200+ Company Stories

Tags: amazon , aws , bezos , podcast

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fomite

A fomite is an object or surface that acts as a medium to transmit infection. I became aware of this word during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.


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References:

  1. Definition: fomite
  2. ACS Environmental Au: Occurrence of Human Viruses on Fomites in the Environment: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
  3. Tweet: @veshi 11 May 2020 - I think my word of the year is going to be "fomite" this year.

Tags: covid , public_health , virus

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fractomorpheme

A fractomorpheme is a productive morpheme, that is, one that is readily used to make new words.

An example is the suffix -gate, coming to denote something scandalous. It is derived from Watergate, the name of the hotel at the center of the early 1970s scandal that ultimately led to the resignation of President Nixon.

In early March 2025, members of the Trump administration were using Signal to coordinate a military operation in Yemen. Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of The Atlantic, was erroneously added to this group chat. The scandal that ensued was dubbed Signalgate.

Update May 2025: it turns out that it wasn't exactly Signal that the Trump administration was using, but rather TeleMessage Signal, or TM SGNL. TeleMessage has been hacked at least twice and the stolen data is available on DDoSSecrets.


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References:

  1. The Atlantic: Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal
  2. Definition: fractomorpheme
  3. Wikipedia: United States government group chat leak
  4. The Atlantic: The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans
  5. Wired: How the Signal Knockoff App TeleMessage Got Hacked in 20 Minutes
  6. DDoSSecrets: TeleMessage - A large amount of data stolen from TeleMessage after they were hacked, including plain text messages.
  7. SignalGate Meets WordPress: Outgoing National Security Adviser’s Phone Dumps Messages via Israeli App
  8. Drop Site News: Israeli App on Mike Waltz’s Phone Exposed User’s Passwords
  9. DarkReading: CISA Warns of TeleMessage Vuln Despite Low CVSS Score

Tags: vocabulary , politics

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glaze

To glaze is to excessively praise or flatter someone, often in an over-the-top, cringe, or sarcastic manner. The implication is often that the recipient was unworthy of such praise. This slang word was popularized in online spaces like TikTok.

I first heard it when Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI) had the following Tweet exchange:

@sama:
we updated GPT-4o today! improved both intelligence and personality.

@StockLizardKing:
It’s been feeling very yes-man like lately

Would like to see that change in future updates

@sama:
yeah it glazes too much

will fix


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References:

  1. Definition: glaze
  2. @sama Tweet
  3. The Verge: New ChatGPT ‘glazes too much,’ says Sam Altman

Tags: slang , vocabulary , netspeak

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