Langford's basilisk
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editAfter an object in David Langford's short story "BLIT".[1]
Noun
editLangford's basilisk (plural Langford's basilisks)
- (science fiction) An image which causes insanity or death on viewing.
- Hypernym: cognitohazard
- 2002 February 27, Charles Stross, “What to throw in?”, in rec.arts.sf.composition[2] (Usenet), message-ID <slrna7qjct.sdj.charlie@raq981.uk2net.com.antipope.org>:
- Dead easy: the ones who watched it all died. (Invoke Langford's Basilisk if you need a real reason.)
- 2013 December 29, RecArtsSfPolicyWonk, “What Did You Watch? 2013-12-29 (Saturday)”, in rec.arts.tv[3] (Usenet), message-ID <w3nrp8vuk7cz.m05n26piatio$.dlg@40tude.net>:
- The technical term is "Langford basilisk". I expect the real deal would induce nothing more permanent than an inconveniently-timed reboot, if it can even exist.
References
edit- ^ David Langford (1988 September-October) “BLIT”, in Interzone[1], number 25