This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Red Shoe: I'm not sure the HHGG example counts; I gather that calling it a "buffered analgesic" rather than "asprin" is due, at least in part, to the fact that "asprin" is a trademarked name in the UK, and therefore couldn't be used without permission
Ununnilium: Yeah, but there's less complicated ways of expressing the same thing. (You could say "painkiller", you could say "pill", etc.)
Daibhid C: Some of the phrases used by Discworld trolls ("They be down on us like ton of rectangular building things", "He are not glad about being in a tent" etc.) are similar to the Expospeak Gag, with the twist the characters are less intelligent than everyone else.
Andyroid: That'd probably fall under Malaproper.
Alex319: Changed the "dihidrogen monoxide" example from describing it as a "legend" to describing it as true. Check out snopes.com or the Wikipedia article on "dihydrogen monoxide hoax".
Phartman: Hell, I used that last semester as a final presentation in college, and no one caught on until I revealed that I was just bullshitting them (I had to, because the actual topic was about how propaganda works). So much for critical thinking; all you have to do is keep it vague and throw in a few loaded words like "Profiteering," "Bourgeoisie" and "Military-Industrial Complex" to play on their sentiments and most college kids will buy into anything you want to sell.
The Uncredible Hallq: I removed this example:
- Occurs in Batman Begins after Lucius Fox creates an antidote for the Scarecrow's fear toxin. Either Bruce was attempting to maintain the Masquerade, or the World's Greatest Detective doesn't remember basic chemistry terms:
Lucius Fox: I analyzed your blood and isolated its receptor compounds and its carbon based catalyst.
Bruce Wayne: Am I meant to understand any of that?
Lucius Fox: Not at all, I just wanted you to know how hard it was.
PS: I'm suspicious of a couple other examples on the page, but without exact quotes it's hard to be sure. Remember people, what makes these things a gag is that they actually mean something!
Hey now... closed timelike curves don't just stand in for time travel in general, they're limited to the specific "time travel" scenarios that involve closed curves (that is, loops) that are at all points future-directed timelike or past-directed timelike (which implies locality and various other sorts of not-breaking-the-laws-of-physics), and don't really resemble sci-fi time travel at all :)
