Langford's basilisk

Langford's basilisk

English

Alternative forms

• Langford basilisk

Etymology

After an object in David Langford's short story "BLIT".[1]

Noun

Langford's basilisk (plural Langford's basilisks)

1. (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, Usenet‎, message-ID <[e-mail]>:

     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, Usenet‎, message-ID <w3nrp8vuk7cz.m05n26piatio$[e-mail]>:

     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

1. David Langford (September-October 1988), “BLIT”, in Interzone‎, issue 25

Anagrams

• Langford basilisks