Bogosity, Defined at Last!

From: arby

U. Penn has a language log, called, in fact, Language Log. I thought you might be interested in their discussion of the word "bogosity."

It seems that that school in Cambridge had something to do with the origins of the word.

bogosity: /boh·go’s@·tee/, n.

1. [orig. CMU, (Carnegie Mellon University) — now very common] The degree to which something is bogus. Bogosity is measured with a bogometer; in a seminar, when a speaker says something bogus, a listener might raise his hand and say "My bogometer just triggered." More extremely, "You just pinned my bogometer" means you just said or did something so outrageously bogus that it is off the scale, pinning the bogometer needle at the highest possible reading (one might also say "You just redlined my bogometer").

bogon: /boh’gon/, n.


Alternate:. A person who is bogus or who says bogus things. This was historically the original usage, but has been overtaken by its derivative senses 1—4. See also bogosity, bogus

quantum bogodynamics: /kwon’tm boh‘goh·di:·nam’iks/, n.

A theory that characterizes the universe in terms of bogon sources (such as politicians, used-car salesmen, TV evangelists, and radio show hosts).

Other bogus-derived terms:

amboguous (having multiple bogus interpretations); bogotissimo (in a gloriously bogus manner); bogotophile (one who is pathologically fascinated by the bogus); paleobogology (the study of primeval bogosity).