Fnord

For the web server, see Fnord (web server).

Fnord is the typographic representation of disinformation or irrelevant information intending to misdirect, with the implication of a conspiracy.

Origin

The word was coined as a nonsensical term with religious undertones in the Principia Discordia by Kerry Thornley and Greg Hill, but was popularized by The Illuminatus! Trilogy of books by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson.

Definition and usage

The Illuminatus! Trilogy

Main article: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

In these novels, the interjection "fnord" is given hypnotic power over the unenlightened. Under the Illuminati program, children, while still in grade school, are taught to be unable to consciously see the word "fnord". For the rest of their lives, every appearance of the word subconsciously generates a feeling of uneasiness and confusion, and prevents rational consideration of the subject.

In the Shea/Wilson construct, fnords are scattered liberally in the text of newspapers and magazines, causing fear and anxiety in those following current events. However, there are no fnords in the advertisements, encouraging a consumerist society. It is implied in the books that fnord is not the actual word used for this task, but merely a substitute, since most readers would be unable to see the actual word.

To see the fnords means to be unaffected by the supposed hypnotic power of the word or, more loosely, of other fighting words. The phrase "I have seen the fnords" was famously graffitied on a railway bridge (known locally as Anarchy Bridge) between Earlsdon and Coventry (U.K.) city centre throughout the 1980s and 1990s, until the bridge was upgraded. The bridge and the phrase were mentioned in the novel A Touch of Love by Jonathan Coe.

In the movie They Live, the main character discovers a similar conspiracy when hidden conformity messages appearing on billboards, magazines, television, and currency are revealed to those wearing special sunglasses.

Discordianism

"Fnord" has become a popular word with followers of Discordianism. It is often used in Usenet and other computer circles to indicate a random or surreal sentence; coercive subtext, or anything jarringly out of context (intentionally or not), can be labelled "fnord".

Other subcultures

The term is also commonly used by hackers and programmers as a metasyntactic variable.

See also

• Culture of fear

References and further reading

Books

• The Golden Apple by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, ISBN 0-440-53981-1
• Schrödinger's Cat by Robert Anton Wilson, ISBN 0-440-50070-2

External links

• Fnord is Fnord.
• Steve Jackson Games: Fnorder, a program for generating "fnord" sentences
• An excerpt from The Golden Apple, dealing with fnords