bogon
/boh'gon/ [by analogy with proton/electron/neutron, but
doubtless reinforced after 1980 by the similarity to Douglas
Adams's `Vogons'; see the Bibliography in
appendix C] n.
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. By
synecdoche, used to refer to any bogus thing, as in "I'd like to
go to lunch with you but I've got to go to the weekly staff
bogon". 5. 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;
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). 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 generalization 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 flavor.
Compare
magic smoke.
