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mountweazel
Dec. 9th, 2015 08:10 ammountweazel - n., an invented word or name inserted in a reference work by a publisher for the purpose of detecting plagiarism.
Yes, fake entries in your dictionary or encyclopedia. The New Oxford American Dictionary has an entry for esquivalience, which does not exist. Maps sometimes include fictional locations or streets, and if one shows up on another company's map, they know it's been copied. The term was coined by Henry Alford in an article in The New Yorker from the existentially-challenged Lillian Virginia Mountweazel, who was fabricated for the 1975 New Columbia Encyclopedia. In German, this is called a Nihilarticle ("null article"), and that term is also sometimes used in English as well.
---L.
Yes, fake entries in your dictionary or encyclopedia. The New Oxford American Dictionary has an entry for esquivalience, which does not exist. Maps sometimes include fictional locations or streets, and if one shows up on another company's map, they know it's been copied. The term was coined by Henry Alford in an article in The New Yorker from the existentially-challenged Lillian Virginia Mountweazel, who was fabricated for the 1975 New Columbia Encyclopedia. In German, this is called a Nihilarticle ("null article"), and that term is also sometimes used in English as well.
---L.
