bogon
/boh'gon/ [by analogy with proton/electron/neutron, but doubtless reinforced
after 1980 by the similarity to Douglas Adams's "Vogons"] 1. The elementary
particle of bogosity (see quantum bogodynamics). For instance, "the Ethernet is
emitting bogons again" means that it is broken or acting in an erratic or bogus
fashion.
2. A query packet sent from a TCP/IP domain resolver to a root server, having
the reply bit set instead of the query bit.
3. Any bogus or incorrectly formed packet sent on a network.
4. A person who is bogus or who says bogus things. This was historically the
original usage, but has been overtaken by its derivative senses. See also
bogosity; compare psyton, fat electrons, magic smoke.
The bogon has become the type case for a whole bestiary of nonce particle names,
including the "clutron" or "cluon" (indivisible particle of cluefulness,
obviously the antiparticle of the bogon) and the futon (elementary particle of
randomness, or sometimes of lameness). These are not so much live usages in
themselves as examples of a live meta-usage: that is, it has become a standard
joke or linguistic maneuver to "explain" otherwise mysterious circumstances by
inventing nonce particle names. And these imply nonce particle theories, with
all their dignity or lack thereof (we might note parenthetically that this is a
generalisation from "(bogus particle) theories" to "bogus (particle
theories)"!). Perhaps such particles are the modern-day equivalents of trolls
and wood-nymphs as standard starting-points around which to construct
explanatory myths. Of course, playing on an existing word (as in the "futon")
yields additional flavour.
[Jargon File]
Nearby terms:
BOFH « bogometer « BogoMips « bogon » bogon
filter » bogon flux » bogosity
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