Warning: Geekiness Ahead

[jennythereader]

I know I have a lot of fellow SF&F fans reading me, many of whom are more or less active at Cons and other aspects of fandom. Given that, I figure I can't be the only one who has incorperated terminology from some of my favorite books and movies into my everyday speech. I'm not talking about repeating a character's catch phrase because it's funny and more-or-less appropriate, but rather using the made-up words or phrases in regular conversation the same way the characters would have.

The one word I notice myself using the most is "Grok," from Heinlein's Stranger In A Strange Land. Superficially, to grok something is simply to understand it, but it implies an extremely complete understanding of all the nuances and complexities of the subject.

A phrase I sometimes use is "on the gripping hand," from Niven's The Mote In God's Eye. It's used with "on the one hand ... , on the other hand ... " to give a third option.

How about you guys? Any words or phrases you've swiped from books?

(I'm also testing if this crossposted to Facebook. Let me know?)

Comments

[gwenlianna.livejournal.com]

I can't think of any specific terms that I've picked up from literature. A friend's repeated use of "grok" was actually what made me hunt up "Stranger in a Strange Land" in the first place.