fnord

1. convention A word used in electronic mail and news

messages to tag utterances as surrealist mind-play or humour,

especially in connection with Discordianism and elaborate

conspiracy theories. "I heard that David Koresh is sharing an

apartment in Argentina with Hitler. (Fnord.)" "Where can I

fnord get the Principia Discordia from?"

2. programming A metasyntactic variable, commonly used by

hackers with ties to Discordianism or the Church of theSubGenius.

The word "fnord" was invented in the "Illuminatus!" trilogy by

Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson.

[Jargon File]

(1995-02-28)