131
votes
Accepted
Is there a term for the science fiction trope where a character lists two historical things and a future thing?
TV Tropes calls it "Famous, Famous, Fictional." The trope description does not cite any other name, which means there almost certainly is not another commonly used term for it. (The trope ...
- 99k
88
votes
Accepted
Where did the concept of a (fantasy-style) "dungeon" originate?
As per this RPG SE question, the first adventure was in a dungeon under a keep, and the name stuck.
According to Gary Gygax (in an interview with Dungeon #112), the first dungeon crawl was part of a ...
- 232k
84
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of word 'crack' in chapter 33 of A Game of Thrones?
"You rule like a man dancing on rotten ice"
He's taking foolish risks.
"On rotten ice" means melting ice, which will soon crack and break, plunging the "dancer" into freezing water, where he will ...
- 13.7k
73
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of "wiped my face with a planet"?
"...wiped my face with a planet" means exactly what it says, from when Thanos brought a planet (actually one of Titan's moons1) down on Tony during their battle in Avengers: Infinity War.
...
- 144k
64
votes
Accepted
Term for immortality that only prevents death from old age
Negligible senescence largely fits the bill.
Negligible senescence is a term coined by biogerontologist Caleb Finch to denote organisms that do not exhibit evidence of senescence (biological aging),...
- 232k
47
votes
Accepted
Was Tolkien's concept of an Oliphaunt borrowed from Afrikaans?
Probably not.
When guiding translators on how to properly render the word "Oliphaunt", Tolkien explicitly said that he had derived it from the Old French 'Olifant', saying that the intent ...
- 95.7k
46
votes
What does "they could use you for seed" mean in The Marvelous Land of Oz?
Jack has a carven pumpkin for a head. However, unlike most jack o' lanterns (which are cleaned out before they are carved), the "guts" of the pumpkin—the pulp and seeds—have not been ...
- 99k
43
votes
Accepted
Why is it called 'Lightspeed' if the ships aren't traveling at the speed of light?
In the Star Wars universe, the term 'lightspeed' doesn't literally mean "traveling at the speed of light" (something that's actually scientifically impossible), it's simply shorthand for ...
- 708k
39
votes
Does cyberpunk exclude interstellar space travel?
Wikipedia describes Cyberpunk as:
a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of low-life and high tech"1 featuring advanced ...
- 82k
38
votes
Accepted
What's the meaning of "411 on the late-night drop box"?
"The 411" is a reference to requesting (or in this case giving) information. It's listed in Maciej Widawski's African American Slang as
"Information or fact"
A "late night drop box" was used by ...
- 708k
36
votes
Term for immortality that only prevents death from old age
"ageless" would work as it means: something (or someone) that does not look or appear to grow older
Elrond's face is described as ageless (lotr, many meetings)
- 1,386
30
votes
Accepted
What work originated the term "dark lord" as a conventionalized title for a preternatural overlord?
I believe that it didn't originate in a work of fantasy, but rather in religion. Concretely, in Christianity, Satan was called the Prince of Darkness. This appears in Paradise Lost, by John Milton, ...
- 118k
27
votes
Where did the concept of a (fantasy-style) "dungeon" originate?
The word dungeon derives from the French donjon for a central tower (or keep) in a castle, and the latter word is still used in this sense in English. It is possibly derived from the Latin dominus &...
26
votes
Accepted
First science fiction story to use the word "laser" or "maser"?
Just a slightly earlier than any of the references to "laser {x}" listed in the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction is this description of a maser weapon, from Poul Anderson's novel ...
- 138k
25
votes
Term for immortality that only prevents death from old age
Undying is a term that refers specifically to a state of never being in a process of dying (such as Tolkien's Undying Lands), and applies mainly to life, rather than ideas, art, or appearance. It does ...
- 13.3k
25
votes
What is the meaning of word 'crack' in chapter 33 of A Game of Thrones?
"I believe I heard the first crack this morning."
Lord Baelish was referring to the quarrel between King Robert and Eddard Stark on proposed murder of Princess Daenerys Stormborn. Robert wanted her ...
- 48.4k
23
votes
Accepted
What’s the first use of the term “Downwell”
The term downwell appears to have first appeared in references to things going on inside actual underground wells. This Google N-grams search shows the term coming into use in the late 1950s, and if ...
- 99k
22
votes
Accepted
Is "Dank Farrik" an exclamatory or a cuss word?
It's definitely a curse.
“Dank farrik,” the other woman cursed softly under her breath.
Star Wars: The Mandalorian Season 2 Junior Novel
and
“Dank farrik!” Fennec cursed, and they ran out of the ...
- 708k
19
votes
What is the in-universe term for Muggles in other countries?
As far as the information from the HP books (and movies), Fantastic Beasts first movie, and as you mentioned in your question, the non-wizarding world people are addressed as:
MUGGLES by the British ...
- 26.9k
18
votes
Term for immortality that only prevents death from old age
Turning to roleplaying games, GURPS uses "Unkillable" for "immune to death by violence" and "Unaging" for "never growing older once mature".
- 3,498
16
votes
Term for immortality that only prevents death from old age
Eternal youth. From Wikipedia:
Eternal youth is the concept of human physical immortality free of ageing. The youth referred to is usually meant to be in contrast to the depredations of aging, ...
- 187
16
votes
Where did the concept of a (fantasy-style) "dungeon" originate?
While Gary Gygax's Chainmail wargame (the predecessor to D&D) seems to be the most direct origin of the term "dungeon crawl" in tabletop RPGs, the term "dungeon" does appear in ...
- 1,217
16
votes
Accepted
Origin of the word "Tholian" in Star Trek
The words have different roots, and there doesn't appear to be a direct connection.
Per Memory Alpha (referencing These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Three)
The name came from an expedition that an ...
- 708k
15
votes
Origin of word "matrix" used to describe a virtual reality environment?
Having just watched the 1972 science fiction film Solaris, I was surprised to hear this dialog.
There is no Hari. She's dead. You're just a reproduction, a mechanical reproduction. A copy. A matrix....
- 259
15
votes
What work originated the term "dark lord" as a conventionalized title for a preternatural overlord?
I found an occurrence of "dark lord" in The Lord of the Dark Red Star: being the story of the supernatural influences in the life of an Italian despot in the thirteenth century (1903) by Eugene Lee-...
- 99k
15
votes
Does cyberpunk exclude interstellar space travel?
Cyberpunk and interstellar travel can coexist; the key aspect to make these styles compatible is that the future remains "unevenly distributed": Despite there being very high technology, ...
- 1,124
14
votes
What is the in-universe term for Muggles in other countries?
Even though only two words have been officially disclosed, we could assume other countries would use the words introduced in official translations of HP books. There's a list of translations for "...
- 157
14
votes
First Age "of the Sun" terminology
Tolkien never uses the term "age(s) of the sun" in his writings
Difficult to prove a negative, but at least he doesn't use it anything that has been published, and easily searchable. ...
- 95.7k
14
votes
Accepted
Is 'Vulcanian' a disparaging term?
It's just a synonym of the word 'Vulcan' -- as in the race, not the planet -- used exclusively during the first season of TOS, before they'd settled on consistent terminology for everything.
The entry ...
- 128k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible