This reminded me of the following "experiment" by those wild and crazy
guys at MIT, Harvard, etal., who compose The Annals of Improbable
Research. This is experiment is taking place right now.
1997-12-03 Language Experiment
We invite you to take part in a large-scale language experiment.
It concerns the word "cogno-intellectual." This noble word can be
used as an adjective or as a noun. We just invented it. The fact
that "cogno-intellectual" has no meaning makes it a useful word.
Meaning nothing, it can be used for anything.
Here is the experiment. Use the word "cogno-intellectual" in
written and oral communications with colleagues, especially with
colleagues whom you do not know well. If you are a student, use it
with your most impressable teachers. If you are a teacher, use it
with your most impressable administrators. Use it at meetings. Use
it with significant strangers. Use it with abandon. Use it with
panache. The main thing is: use it.
The most interesting, and the most useful, stage of the experiment
will be to then gather evidence that the word is seeing into
general use. When you see such evidence, please send a copy to us
at:
Institute of Cogno-Intellectual Research
c/o AIR, PO Box 380853, Cambridge MA 02238 USA
1997-12-20 Our Address (*)
The Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
PO Box 380853, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA
617-491-4437 FAX:617-661-0927
EDITORIAL: marca@wilson.harvard.edu
GENERAL INFO (supplied automatically): info@improb.com
SUBSCRIPTIONS: air@improb.com
WORLD WIDE WEB: http://www.improb.com/
A monthly column of improbable computer-related items appears on
the back page of Byte magazine.
ELSEWHERE ON THE NET:
* USENET:
a weekly column appears in clari.tw.columns.imprb_research
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(c) copyright 1997, The Annals of Improbable Research
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mini-AIRheads
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EDITOR: Marc Abrahams (marca@wilson.harvard.edu)
MINI-PROOFREADER AND PICKER OF NITS (before we introduce the last
few at the last moment): Wendy Mattson <posh@sirius.com>
WWW EDITOR/GLOBAL VILLAGE IDIOT: Amy Gorin
(ringo@leland.stanford.edu) http://www.improb.com/
COMMUTATIVE EDITOR: Stanley Eigen (eigen@neu.edu)
ASSOCIATIVE EDITOR: Mark Dionne
CO-CONSPIRATORS: Gary Dryfoos, Craig Haggart, Deb Kreuze, Nicki
Sorel
MAITRE DE COMPUTATION: Jerry Lotto
AUTHORITY FIGURES: Nobel Laureates Dudley Herschbach, Sheldon
Glashow, William Lipscomb, Richard Roberts