Tuckerization

 Tuckerization (or tuckerism) is the act of using a person's name (and sometimes other characteristics)^{[citation needed]} in an original story as an in-joke. The term is derived from Wilson Tucker, a pioneering American science fiction writer, fan and fanzine editor, who made a practice of using his friends' names for minor characters in his stories. For example, Tucker named a character after Lee Hoffman in his novel The Long Loud Silence, and after Walt Willis in Wild Talent.

In most cases, tuckerization is used for "bit parts" (minor characters), an opportunity for the author to create an homage to a friend or respected colleague. However, an author sometimes attaches a friend's name, description, or identifiable characteristics to a major character, and in some novels, nearly all characters represent friends, colleagues, or prominent persons the author knows. When that happens, tuckerization can rise to the level of a roman à clef. 

Many science fiction authors auction off tuckerizations at science fiction conventions with the proceeds going to charity.

 

superluminal

 Faster-than-light (also FTL, superluminal or supercausal) travel and communication are the conjectural propagation of matter or information faster than the speed of light (c). The special theory of relativity implies that only particles with zero rest mass (i.e., photons) may travel at the speed of light, and that nothing may travel faster.

payload

 In computing and telecommunications, the payload is the part of transmitted data that is the actual intended message. Headers and metadata are sent only to enable payload delivery.

quidnunc

 

quidnunc (plural quidnuncs)

1. (archaic) A person eager to learn news and scandal.

Synonyms: busybody, buttinsky, gossip, newsmonger, yenta

dissimilation

 In phonology, particularly within historical linguistics, dissimilation is a phenomenon whereby similar consonants or vowels in a word become less similar. In English, dissimilation is particularly common with liquid consonants such as /r/ and /l/ when they occur in a sequence. 

For example, Latin peregrinus > Old French pelegrin (and the Italian pellegrino and Sicilian piḍḍigrinu) which gave rise to the English pilgrim.

dramaturge

 A dramaturge or dramaturg (from Ancient Greek δραματουργός dramatourgós) is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and printed programmes (or helps others with these tasks), consults authors, and does public relations work.

globster

  globster or blob is an unidentified organic mass that washes up on the shoreline of an ocean or other body of water. A globster is distinguished from a normal beached carcass by being hard to identify, at least by initial untrained observers, and by creating controversy as to its identity. 

 

stipe

 

stipe (plural stipes)

1. The stem of a mushroom, kelp, etc.
2. The trunk of a tree.
3. The caudicle within the pollinarium of an orchid flower
4. The petiole of the frond of a fern or palm

fediverse

 

The fediverse (a portmanteau of "federation" and "universe") is an ensemble of federated (i.e. interconnected) servers that are used for web publishing (i.e. social networking, microblogging, blogging, or websites) and file hosting, which, while independently hosted, can communicate with each other.