Techno Babble: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:Technobabble.png|link=Gunnerkrigg Court|frame|[[Blah Blah Blah|Chatter chatter jargon!]] ]]

 

{{quote|'''Sid Phillips:''' No one has ever attempted a double bypass brain transplant before!

 

[[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness|Any impressive- and scientific-sounding]], but ultimately nonsensical utterance.

Can be used to explain or justify plot developments or simply to add to the genre feel. Comes from the fact that scientific language, despite being meant to allow for easier understanding between scientists, sounds flashy and arcane to the untrained ear.

 

 

The difference between jargon and technobabble is that, while jargon may seem incomprehensible to anyone not part of that particular field, it does indeed make sense to anyone familiar with the terms involved, for the simple reason that jargon is meant to allow for clear, unambiguous communication between specialists: if an average computer user says "I can only connect to one network, and even then, I don't have Web or storage," a trained engineer would report this as "User can associate their NIC with only one SSID, and does not seems to be receiving an IP address from the DHCP server." This part also applies to a good degree to non-science fields, where people may not know, for example, what a "1/4 flexible elbow" is, but if you're a plumber or A/C technician, you'd get it right away. Also, notice that technobabble is sometimes [[Truth in Television]], as dishonest technicians sometimes resort to vague, senseless "technical" jargon to make up "serious problems" in the inner workings of a machine and offer to "fix" them for a high price. There is also an element of [[Reality Is Unrealistic]] in the concept of the trope: it is only to be ''expected'', if you really think about it, that like all language scientific jargon will evolve over the course of a few centuries, with new words being coined and existing words changing their meaning. As a result, 24th century scientific lingo would naturally ''sound'' like complete nonsense to someone in the present in much the same way that modern day scientific lingo would no doubt sound to an inventor of the 1700's. The reverse is also true, if earlier science fictions are any guide.

 

{{examples}}

== Advertising ==

** How many times did you see an ad for a laundry detergent with "intelligent molecules"?

* Every commercial for shampoo, face creams, etc that make up any old scientific-sounding mumbo-jumbo to sound like they are terribly advanced and especially effective. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in the shampoo commercial that points out "Here's the science bit."

* Recent bottled water ads have been boasting its high pH level. Which is great, until you realize that lye has a pH of 13. (Pure water's pH is 7.)

 

* Played to death and [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]''.

{{quote|'''Yuki Nagato:''' A localized, non-corrosive amalgamation of asynchronous space is independently occurring in restricted condition mode.

'''Aoba:''' Destrudo reaction in old area! Pattern sepia!

'''Hyuga:''' A change is confirmed on the core pulse too! + 0.3 confirmed!

'''Maya:''' + 0.5... 0.8... It's odd, I can't stop it! }}

** Fuyutsuki and Gendo Ikari were experts in "metaphysical biology" (You got philosophy in my science! You got science in my philosophy!) before going military. In other words, the Eva universe had a field of science devoted to things like the Angels even ''before'' the Second Impact.

'''Technician:''' Opening another false entry!

'''Makoto:''' No human's capable of this!

* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' gets some in the second half with the bio-computer. The only person who can understand a word of it is Leeron, and then only half. The show doesn't even try taking it seriously-generally, the ultra-dense technobabble spouted by the bio-computer is either ignored or boils down to "All this I'm saying doesn't really even matter because [[Beyond the Impossible|you're just going to break physics anyway]], you jackasses."

* ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'': Even [[Tsundere|Nagi]] is accused of doing this by Isumi:

{{quote|'''Isumi:''' Nagi uses such complicated words. When she's trying to deceive someone.}}

* ''[[Guilty Crown]]'' takes after ''Evangelion'' in that it uses a lot of biology-themed Techno Babble, most of it misapplied or completely nonsensical (intron-RAM, anyone?). Unlike in ''Evangelion'' it's uncertain if the trope was being subverted or parodied or played entirely straight.

 

* In the ''[[Firefly]]'' fanfic ''[[Forward]]'', Kaylee actually uses technobabble to scare off a group of suspicious federal marshals who are poking around the ship's engine room, by warning them that poking or moving anything will result in a horrific death via painful-sounding technobabble. They eventually back off and leave.

 

== Films ==

* ''Sev Trek: Puss in Boots'' (an Australian CGI spoof of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''). Lt. Gaudy Regurge gives a highly-technical explanation of how they'll defeat the alien vessel. Captain Pinchhard gestures Commander Piker over and says quietly, "I didn't understand a word of that." Piker responds, "Sounds good to me!"

* ''[[Red Dawn]]''. Colonel Tanner lays out a plan to attack a Cuban base using military terminology like "flanking manoeuvre" and "grazing fire on this defilade". Unfortunately none of the guerrillas, a group of civilian [[Child Soldiers]], can understand what he's going on about, so he just mutters "[[I Need a Freaking Drink]]" and starts over.

* ''Airport'': Capt. Vernon Demerest, played by Dean Martin, stops a know-it-all kid from broadcasting the fact that the plane is turning around: "You have a young navigator here! Well, I'll tell you son... Due to a Cetcil wind, Dystor's vectored us into a 360-tarson of slow air traffic. Now we'll maintain this Borden hold until we get the Forta Magnus clearance from Melnics."

* ''[[I, Robot (film)|I Robot]]'' had Susan Calvin talk about how robotic brains work using a lot of this.

* An old electrical engineering joke is a fictional device called the "Turboencabulator". Here's a portion of its description:

{{quote|"The original machine had a base-plate of prefabulated amulite, surmounted by a malleable logarithmic casing in such a way that the two spurving bearings were in a direct line with the pentametric fan, the latter consisted simply of six hydrocoptic marzelvanes, so fitted to the ambifacient lunar vaneshaft that side fumbling was effectively prevented. The main winding was of the normal lotus-o-delta type placed in panendermic semi-boloid slots in the stator, every seventh conductor being connected by a nonreversible trem'e pipe to the differential girdlespring on the 'up' end of the grammeters."}}

** The French equivalent of this would be the sketch "[http://pierredac.free.fr/schmil.htm Le Schmilblick]" by humorist Pierre Dac.

* On [[Steve Martin]]'s ''Let's Get Small'' album, he announces that he's written a joke for the plumbers in the audience:

{{quote|"This lawn supervisor was out on a sprinkler maintenance job, and he started working on a Findlay sprinkler head with a Langstrom seven-inch gangly wrench. Just then this little apprentice leaned over and said, 'You can't work on a Findlay sprinkler head with a Langstrom seven-inch wrench.' Well, this infuriated the supervisor, so he went and got Volume 14 of the Kinsley manual, and he reads to him and says, 'The Langstrom seven-inch wrench can be used with the Findlay sprocket.' Just then the little apprentice leaned over and says, 'It says sprocket, not socket!'"

"Were the plumbers supposed to be here this show?" }}

 

== Literature ==

'''Wilbur:''' Ah! One of ''those''. }}

** Further lampshaded in ''One Of Our Thursdays Is Missing'', which reveals that any technological object in the Bookworld more advanced than a toaster is built by Techno Babble Industries.

* One of [[E. E. "Doc" Smith]]'s ''[[Lensman]]'' books, ''Galactic Patrol'', includes a very amusing technobabble explanation for the unlikely properties of one of his favorite inventions, Duodecpylatimate, AKA Duodec, the ultimate chemical explosive, though you do have to understand scientific notation to figure out the joke. Duodecpylatimate is described as "the quintessence of atomic destruction," whose power is second only than a nuclear explosion and has few of the drawbacks of atomics. No radiation danger, easy to handle, simple to use, powerful and easy to detonate. "Duodec" is a solid chemical explosive composed of 324 atoms of heptavalent nitrogen combined in 12 linked molecules of 27 atoms each.

* Parodied in Alan Dean Foster's ''[[Spellsinger]]'' series, where wizards incorporate technical terms from science and engineering into their arcane rituals. Lampshaded in that Jon-Tom immediately spots the connection, but turtle wizard Clothahump merely comments that the wizards in his (our) world must simply use comparable formulae for their spells.

* The titular ''[[Bastard Operator From Hell]]'' is a master of coming up with what an informed reader can tell is nonsense, but which the boss will consider to be very impressive.

** The BOFH also uses a technobabble overload to force lusers into Dummy Mode, where [[Bavarian Fire Drill|they will do whatever he tells them]] without thinking about it.

* In the classical novel by Alessandro Manzoni "The Betrothed" it is used by don Abbondio, a clergyman. He's just trying to find an excuse to convince the young Renzo to postpone his marriage (he has been threatened by the henchmen of a local noble to do that) and starts sprouting nonsense in Latin to impress him. Renzo, although, doesn't fall for it and just roars "Enough of your Latinorum!".

* Copious amounts can be found in ''Deep Storm'', although half the time it's simplified by Dr. Crane's [[Parrot Exposition|exposition parroting]].

{{quote|'''Q:''' This must sound like a lot of technobabble to you. In layman's terms: ''The shit had hit the fan.''}}

* [[Aubrey-Maturin|Stephen Maturin]] invokes this trope, due to the highly technical nature of running large sailing ships: "Your mariner is a splendid fellow, none better, but he is sadly given to jargon."

 

** Scripts for ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' were usually written with "[Tech]" as a placeholder; a second set of writers would come in and replace the placeholders with actual Techno Babble, referring to the right [[Applied Phlebotinum]] for the job.

** [[Lampshaded]] in the following exchange from the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' episode "Battle Lines":

'''O'Brien:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Dax:''' I've never heard of a differential magnetomer. How does it work?

** Another ''Deep Space Nine'' episode, "Q-Less", plays it more blatantly. As they're busily attempting to solve the cause of repeating (and intensifying) power drains and graviton bursts, [[A God Am I|Q]] is harassing the crew, and pops in with the statement, "Picard and his lackeys would've solved all this technobabble hours ago!"

** Parodied on ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' "Message in a Bottle".

'''EMH2:''' The secondary gyrodyne relays in the propulsion field intermatrix have depolarised.

'''EMH:''' ''(rolling eyes)'' In English!

*** For all its overuse of technobabble generally, ''Voyager'' did manage to have fun with this at times. From the season 3 finale:

{{quote|'''B'elanna''':Perhaps I can [beam Chakotay, Tuvok and Kim] out if I get a skeletal lock on them...

'''B'elanna''': You know, lock on to the mineral concentration in their bones.

'''Janeway''': ... I didn't know you could do that.

** And then, there is the episode "Rascals", where Riker plays with this trope in a very interesting way. He reads verbatim from the [[Real Life]] ''TNG Technical Manual'' to distract a hostile Ferengi while he secretly taps out a coded message. Just watch [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTUVPd-tyQY this clip] from 2:00 onwards.

*** The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwu2C91YMT4 same episode] also has examples of "archeology babble" and "biology babble" in the beginning.

** The TNG episode "Where No One Has Gone Before" involves Kosinski, a warp drive "expert" who applies nonsensical adjustments (Riker describes his paper as gibberish) to the warp engines of star ships; they only appear to work because his "assistant" is secretly a Traveller who in some way manipulates warp fields with his mind. It is clear from the start that Kosinski does not know what he is talking about because he mostly brags about his excellence instead of speaking fluid technobabble. When he does attempt technobabble, his audience appears unimpressed (and are utterly baffled, at first, that the in-universe gibberish he's spouting seems to work anyway).

** ''TNG'' also loved to use the "inverse tachyon pulse" routed through the "main deflector dish" which managed to do completely contradictory things like work as a sensor and be an unstoppable death ray.

** Humorously Lampshaded and subverted in the ''TNG'' episode "Clues", where Data, [[Beware the Honest Ones|trying to lie through his teeth for the safety of the ship]], tries to use technobabble to explain away why some moss growth proved [[Year Inside, Hour Outside|the crew was out for far longer than the couple of seconds he claims they were]]. After he left, Picard asked Geordi if he believed the explanation; turns out, he didn't, and was even shocked that Data would try to bluff them like that.

** Funnily enough, this was [[Early Installment Weirdness|usually avoided]] in ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|TOS]]'', which rarely explained things beyond "Some part of the ship is damaged/malfunctioning, [[Mr. Fixit|Scotty]] and/or [[The Spock|Spock]] have to fix it, and then they do in the nick of time." An example of a technobabble-heavy episode by TOS standards is "The Doomsday Machine", which throws around terms like "anti-proton" and "inverse phasing", but in execution is still very straightforward when compared to the more modern ''Trek'' shows.

*** In its first two or three seasons, TNG also avoided technobabble. It didn't turn into the quantum-phase-modulating-fest we all know and love until two things happened: (1) Gene Roddenberry stepped down, and (2) the ''Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual'' was published, which contained more technobabble than you could shake a 9-Cochrane warp nacelle at.

* ''[[Andromeda]]'' actually averts this most of the time, using particles, materials and weapons that exist in "hard" sci-fi, with the exception of the Slipstream Drive and the Energy Beings in later episodes.

** Baltar had previously used reams of technobabble on Tigh to demonstrate his fake Amazing Cylon Detector. Lucky that his hapless victim turned out to be a real Cylon. Ironically, the equally-technobabbly but functional detector later built by Baltar is currently considered fake.

** Ronald D. Moore has gone on record several times saying that he hates using technobabble. In fact, the avoidance level is so high that it takes four seasons to show the Galactica's engine room. Most of the basic tech remains a [[Black Box]].

** It really came back to bite them when the writers actually came up with a real scientific explanation for why stem cells from the human/Cylon hybrid Hera would cure cancer. Moore was worried that it would just ''sound'' like gibberish, and the final episode largely glosses over why it works (something about some blood cells being square while others are hexagonal, as far as we can tell). And the end result was many viewers upset that such a huge game-changing moment was given no real explanation.

* Very common in ''[[24]]'', where most of Chloe O'Brien's lines involve nothing but meaningless technobabble, including incredible abuse of the word "subnet".

'''Chiana:''' "Spare me the Techno Babble, Gadget Girl, let's just get on with it." }}

** Like most other things in ''[[Farscape]]'' technobabble is not only lamp-shaded and name-dropped more than once, but is even deconstructed by [[Genre Savvy]] John Crichton.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* The ''[[Firefly]]'' Tabletop [[RPG]] featured a table that allowed the GM to randomly generate damage to the players' ship. It had two columns, one for technobabble, and one for what this actually meant. They were rolled separately, and therefore one had no correlation to each other whatsoever.

** The technobabble column itself came in three parts: the part prefix (Primary/Hydraulic/etc), the part (Stabilizer/Vent/Feed/etc) and what happened to it (Cracked/Jammed/Exploded/etc) requiring three rolls to describe what went wrong when all anyone wants to know is the fourth, which is what it means.

* ''[[Genius: The Transgression]]'': Actually represented in the rules, and known as Jabir. A [[Mad Scientist|Genius]] who tries to talk about any kind of science will find that they have suddenly stopped making sense.

** [[Deconstructed Trope]]/PlayedForDrama in this case; Jabir is described as a disturbing thing to witness and suffer from.

* ''[[Spirit of the Century]]'' allows players to make declarations about scientific facts their characters know which can help in whatever situation they find themselves in. Since ''[[Spirit of the Century]]'' runs on the rules of [[Two-Fisted Tales|pulp narrative]], both players and [[Game Master]]s are encouraged to make such situations less about "realistic science" and more about "impressive sounding technobabble."

* In ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'', a card from the Future Sight set modified how the player assembles contraptions. Contraptions don't exist. You can't assemble them. There are no rules pertaining to 'assembling' or 'contraptions' anywhere in the game.

** This is actually a reference to a past card, Great Wall, which made it possible to block creatures with plainswalk even if you had a plains; at the time, only one creature with plainswalk existed, and even today, with [[Over Nine Thousand|over a hundred thousand cards]], less than twenty have or grant plainswalk.

 

== Theatre ==

{{quote|Molecularly, Tiberium is a non-carbon-based element, that appears to have strong ferrous qualities, with non-resonating reversible energy! Which has a tendency to disrupt carbon-based molecular structures, with inconsequential and unequal positrons orbiting on the first, second and ninth quadrings!}}

*** This would translate to "It's not carbon, it is ironish, and it kills people." Plus it's at least partly antimatter, even if the positrons are "inconsequent". (At least they're not ''incontinent''; it's so annoying when your sole resource leaves little puddles of antimatter pee everywhere.)

* Dr. Judith Mossman in ''[[Half-Life]] 2'' has the tendency to speak in technobabble which your character is supposed to understand, and likely does. ''You'' however, are not, and likely don't.

** In ''[[Half-Life (series)/Fanfic Recs|Welcome To City 17]]'', he doesn't understand it either, because that is technobabble [[Science Marches On|from twenty years in the future]] to him.

* ''[[Unreal Tournament]]'' mixes technobabble with a generous measure of [[Gun Porn]] in most weapon and item descriptions, so even if bits of it go over your head, you can still be confident of the power it's packing.

* ''[[Xenogears]]'' and ''[[Xenosaga]]'' are madly, passionately in love with their technobabble.

* [[Ratchet and Clank]] lampshades this in the first game, in Metropolis, when the duo enter Big Al's Roboshack. Al babbles for some time, then we get this gem:

{{quote|'''Ratchet:''' Um, Clank, you speak Nerd...}}

== Web Comics ==

* Subverted in ''[[Kid Radd]]'', where the otherwise brilliant [[Mad Scientist]] has a huge blind spot for technobabble. "The sensors are picking up some '''stuff!'''"

* Parodied as well in [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/1503.html this] ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' strip; see also the notes at the bottom.

* ''[[8-Bit Theater]]'' features a technobabble dialogue in [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2003/09/25/episode-334-car-talk-and-retribution/ this strip].

* ''[[Intragalactic]]'' did a parody of technobabble in a footnote [http://intragalacticcomic.com/2008/11/21/021-magic-2d-space-map/ here]: "It wouldn't seem like you could chart space on a two-dimensional screen like this. Until you remember that at large distances space functions as a flat surface due to the exponentially increasing effects of gravity as we near the Planck time. Subspace anomaly nanoprobes wormhole."

** Also in ''Muertitos'' by the same author [http://muertitos.comicgenesis.com/d/20080306.html here]: "The trauma has rendered her catatonic, clinically vegetative, and medicine saline doctor viral!"

* Lampshaded in ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' when Jean Poule tries to [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20071204.html explain the experiment which produced Molly.]

** And again when Molly [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100713.html tries to explain her newest invention.]

* Lampshade firmly hung in ''[[Keychain of Creation]]'' with the character of Nova, an Alchemical Exalt. Specifically, in her fight with Misho [http://keychain.patternspider.net/archive/koc0148.html here]. Misho's usually the go-to guy for [[Magi Babble]] about [[Magitek]], but Nova's particularly bad about it, especially since her stuff is more "tek" than "magi."

* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'': [[Lampshade Hanging|"Jargon]] [[Magical Computer|computers]] [[Magic From Technology|technical wizardry]] [[Blah Blah Blah|babble]] [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=519 jargon."]

* Shown in [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/index.php?date=041204 these] [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/index.php?date=041205 two] ''[[Bob and George]]'' comics.

** Keep reading—a few comics later it culminates nicely with a character exploding due to technobabble overload.

{{quote|'''Scientist:''' [[Negative Space Wedgie|Shiny]] [[Hell Gate|void]] [[Another Dimension|rift]] [[X Meets Y|plus]] [[Kill Sat|big]] [[BFG|space]] [[Wave Motion Gun|gun]] [[Oh Crap|make]] [[Earthshattering Kaboom|world]] [[The End of the World as We Know It|go]] [[Apocalypse How|'splody.]]}}

** And [http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20100926.html here], where they use some of the more well known ones. Don't miss the labels on the other switches.

* [http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2010/10/28/0212-techno-babble/ Completely inverted] by ''[[Sandra and Woo]]''.

* Technobabble in ''[[Girl Genius]]'' tends to run afoul of the [[Unspoken Plan Guarantee]]; if any use of technology is described it will fail or be foiled, necessitating [[Indy Ploy|on-the-spot improvisation]] that involves [[Percussive Maintenance]], [[Frickin' Laser Beams]], or [[A Wizard Did It|just science that happens to be weird]]. The entire three-way poison cure between Agatha, Gil and Tavrek is a good example, as it was full of babbling Sparks getting owned by [[Finagle's Law]].

* ''[[Goblins]]''. Kin is prone to this, especially hilarious when talking to the dimwitted Minmax.

 

* The writers at ''[[Orion's Arm]]'' put a lot of work into producing plausible technobabble, the effect of this is that determining what parts they made up is pretty hard.

* ''[[Sailor Moon Abridged]]'', episode 31:

'''Amy:''': You guys never listen to me anyway! }}

* ''[[Sci Fi Debris]]'' repeatedly calls these out in his ''[[Star Trek]]'' reviews. He goes one step further in his review of the ''[[Voyager]]'' episode "Prototype", where he explains the method by which Technobabble is created: take two unrelated, scientific-sounding terms, and stick them together. He proceeds to demonstrate it by creating some examples, with captions giving a possible explanation of what the complete term would mean, including:

'''Zap Brannigan:''' Spare me your space-age techno-babble, Attila the Hun! }}

** Really, they use (and [[Parody]]) this all the time, in a variety of different ways.

'''[[Genius Ditz|Amy]]:''' ''[[Future Slang|Guh]]!'' Stop patronizing us. }}

* ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' is also chock full of it. Suffice to say it's never a good idea to let Jérémie explain how his newest program works. Or let Aelita answer questions about simple mathematic concepts.

* In the first episode of the Thanagarian invasion ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', one of the Thanagarian's suggests to the Martian Manhunter that he wouldn't understand the technology they are using. He replies with a burst of technobabble indicating a deeper understanding of what's going on that she obviously expected.

* In ''[[Dave the Barbarian]]'', this is parodied in an episode in which Dave suggests solving the problem with convenient technobabble. Candy responds that convenient technobabble levels are dangerously low.

* ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' makes a [[Running Gag]] of this. [[Mad Scientist|Heloise]] will often give these explanations for her inventions to [[Dumb Blonde|Jimmy]] and [[Fat Idiot|Beezy]], receiving blank stares. She then deadpans an explanation you'd give a child.

* Also seen in one opening of ''[[Family Guy]]'' where [[Fat Idiot|Peter]] is watching TV and a stand up comedian (Dennis Miller) comes on and delivers this line: "I don't want to go on a rant here, but America's foreign policy makes about as much sense as [[Beowulf]] having sex with Robert Fulton at [[American Civil War|the first Battle of Antietam]]. I mean, when a neo-conservative defenestrates, it's like Raskolnikov filibustered deoxymonohydroxinate." Which in turn leaves Peter with the amazing comment "What the hell does "rant" mean?"

 

 

* Essentially every product or idea sold on the basis of the word "quantum", or to put it another way, the entire woo-woo industry. Woo which predates quantum mechanics—homeopathy, for example—has been retooled to include a lot of convincing-sounding, but utterly nonsensical, jibber-jabber about superposition and parallel dimensions. To make yourself an idea, watch the second half of ''What the <BLEEP> Do We Know''.

** Here's a challenge: try to find ''any'' New Agey pseudoscience or fakery which the charlatan behind it at no point ever describes or explains using meaningless misapplications of the words "energy" or "vibration".

* The ICAO Accident Prevention Manual mentions an incident where a private pilot once wrote the authorities asking if he could save money by mixing kerosene with his aircraft fuel. They sent back a letter stating: ''Utilization of motor fuel involves major uncertainties/probabilities respecting shaft output and metal longevity where application pertains to aeronautical internal combustion power plants.'' Pilot's reply: "Thanks for the information. Will start using kerosene next week." Answering by cable this time, the authorities responded: ''Regrettably decision involves uncertainties. Kerosene utilization consequences questionable, with respect to metalloferrous components and power production.'' Cable reply from the pilot: "Thanks again. It will sure cut my fuel bill." Response by telex within the hour: DON'T USE KEROSENE. IT COULD KILL THE ENGINE, AND YOU TOO!

** A great example of why you should avoid [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness|uselessly long words]]. (Regrettably decision involves uncertainties -> Actually, we're not sure about that decision.)

I started collecting MP3s in about 2001, and if I try to play any of the tracks I downloaded back then, even the stuff I grabbed at 320kbps, they just sound like crap. The bass is terrible, the midrange...well don't get me started. Some of those albums have degraded down to 32 or even 16kbps. FLAC rips from the same period still sound great, even if they weren't stored correctly, in a cool, dry place. Seriously, stick to FLAC, you may not be able to hear the difference now, but in a year or two, you'll be glad you did. }}

* Physicist Alan Sokal wrote an article in the journal ''Social Text'' that was essentially this, emphasis on "babble". He did so to prove that the humanities division would accept anything.

* A number of supplements talk about how wonderful it is that they contain DNA. As does every life form on Earth.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]