Line #31 Main/SciFiNameBuzzwords


1	->'''Morty''': Oh boy. What's wrong, Rick? Is it the quantum carburetor or something?\
2	'''Rick''': "Quantum carburetor"? Jesus Morty, you can't just add a sci-fi word to a car word and hope it means something. Huh.. looks like something's wrong with the microverse-battery.
3	-->-- ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty''
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5	Out of the confusing twists and turns of TechnoBabble and ExpoSpeak come the Sci-Fi Name Buzzwords. These are short word components that can be clicked onto an existing word [[WeWillUseWikiWordsInTheFuture portmanteau style]] to make it sound more sciencey.
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7	These tend to rise and fall in favor over time. Using one from a different era can give your technology a retro, period feel. Occurs frequently in SteamPunk, based on the perception that it was common to name things using Latin compound words, e.g. quadro-velocipede, electro-fulminator (both from ''Series/{{Legend}}''). This was actually a feature of Georgian scientific culture, which is what Lovecraft was imitating.
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9	Very common in German translations of English SF titles (astonishingly, the new fad of "The Title Which Was Overly Long And Really Pathetic" has never took off in SF, so this trope will probably stay [[note]]the only offhand counterexemplar is ''[[Literature/{{Wayfarers}} The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet]]'' which got a literal interpretation[[/note]]).
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11	Tack on more than two, and you're off in parody land.
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13	A SuperTrope to SpaceX, PhotoprotoneutronTorpedo, SIPrefixName. Contrast ScaryScienceWords.
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15	[[folder:List of commonly employed sci-fi buzzwords]]
16	* General
17	** mechano- (early 20th century)
18	** electro- (1910 or so)
19	** morpho-
20	** dyna-
21	** gravi-
22	** [[RobotNames robo-]] (since the 1920s)
23	** atomic (particularly during the 1950s)
24	** cyber- (relatively new, since the 1960s)
25	** compu- (predates cyber-)
26	** neuro-
27	** cyclo-
28	** synchro-
29	** turbo-
30	** meta- (lit. "above", colloquially "beyond" or "about/to itself")
31	** [[NameTron -tron]]
32	** -tor
33	** -ite (for minerals/ores)
34	** -ium (for elements)
35	** e-
36	** [[IProduct i- (and it must always be lowercase i, then capital]], eg iCarly)
37	** -oid (like, but not quite the same, e.g. humanoid, jokeoid)
38	** -izer (mostly for [[EnergyWeapons ray guns]])
39	** [[WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb -inator]]
40	** matrix
41	** fusion (possibly used in conjunction with "core" and/or "crystallic". Or if something goes wrong, the words "reactor", "self-destruct" and/or "meltdown")
42	* SI scale units
43	** macro- (big)
44	** mega- (millions)
45	** giga- (billions)
46	** tera- (trillions)
47	** peta- (quadrillions)
48	** micro- (small)
49	** nano- (even smaller, see {{Nanomachines}})
50	** pico- (smaller still)
51	** femto- (really small)
52	* Particles
53	** atomic (in TheFifties, everything was atomic)
54	** nuclear
55	** nucleo-
56	** quantum
57	** photon
58	** proton
59	** neutron
60	** electron
61	** molecular
62	** positron
63	** tachyon
64	** lambda
65	** muon
66	** ion
67	** particle (used unqualified)
68	* Beams
69	** [[EnergyWeapon laser]]
70	*** graser (like a laser, but with gamma rays!)
71	*** maser (like a laser, but with microwaves![[note]]masers were actually built/discovered first[[/note]])
72	*** uvaser (Like a laser, but it'll cause instant terminal sunburn!)
73	*** iraser (Like a laser, but in infrared!)
74	*** xaser (blah, blah, blah, x-rays!)
75	** [[StaticStunGun taser]]
76	** [[Franchise/StarTrek phaser]]
77	** blazer
78	** stazer
79	** [[TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}} bananafanafofaser]]
80	** Gauss
81	* Outer Space
82	** [[SpaceX space-]]
83	** -space ([[Franchise/StarWars Hyperspace]], [[Franchise/{{Halo}} Slipspace]], [[Franchise/StarTrek Subspace]]...)
84	** star
85	** galactic/intergalactic
86	** vortex
87	** astro-
88	** cosmo-
89	** hyper-
90	** warp
91	** phase
92	** (sub)orbit(al)
93	** planetary/interplanetary
94	** stellar/interstellar
95	** flux
96	** drive (NASA spacecraft engines are called "engines." You never hear of a 747 powered by a "jet drive", do you?)
97	** (function or location) node
98	* {{Steampunk}}
99	** apparatus
100	** pneumatic
101	** gyro-
102	** aether
103	** magna- or magneto-
104	** -graph
105	[[/folder]]
106
107	----
108	!!Examples:
109
110	[[AC:Non-Fiction]]
111	* Creator/GardnerDozois: In his 1976 how-to-write-SF article "Living the future: You are what you eat!", gives a good tirade that culminated with this (cue the author's SarcasmMode):
112	-->"Well, after all, science fiction is pretty easy to write, isn't it? It's just a matter of using fancy names--just change the names, apply a thin layer of technologese and jargon, right? Say 'helicar' instead of car, 'helipad' instead of driveway, 'tri-vid' instead of television, 'feelies' (or 'smellies,' or 'grabbies') instead of movies. Better still, [[SpaceX use the word 'space' as a prefix for everything]]: spacesuit, spacegun, spacehelmet, spacehouse, spacedog, spacecow. ... Right? Just change the names and you can write a confession-magazine love story, a cowboy story, a gothic, or a nurse novel, and sell it as science fiction. Right?"

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