mountweazel

[prettygoodword]

mountweazel - 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.

Comments

[jjhunter]

There is a wonderful episode of the podcast 'The Allusionist' entirely devoted to mountweazels — check it, and related links, here. I especially like the original fictitious entry for 'Mountweazel, Lillian Virginia' from 1850 - the writer was clearly having fun with it.

Mountweazel, Lillian Virginia, 1942-1973, American photographer, b. Bangs, Ohio. Turning from fountain design to photography in 1963, Mountweazel produced her celebrated portraits of the South Sierra Miwok in 1964. She was awarded government grants to make a series of photo-essays of unusual subject matter, including New York City buses, the cemeteries of Paris and rural American mailboxes. The last group was exhibited extensively abroad and published as Flags Up! (1972) Mountweazel died at 31 in an explosion while on assignment for Combustibles magazine.

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

This word is courtesy that podcast, with a hat-tip to a friend who pointed me to it.

---L.

[med_cat]

Haha! An excellent fictitious biography; thanks for sharing with us.

[med_cat]

Interesting word and fascinating info; thanks!