# Favorite Sci-Fi Mumbo-Jumbo **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 25, 2013, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915 "2013-06-25T21:12:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/61 "2013-06-26T14:26:33Z")
“Shaka, when the walls fell” “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra” and the rest of the Tamarian language from the ST:TNG episode “Darmok” ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/62 "2013-06-26T14:33:24Z")
From the 1991 film Suburban Commando: Hulk Hogan (a space mercenary on forced vacation on Earth) enconters a mime doing the “trapped in a box” trope. He says, “Huh. Looks like a K7 force field. Don’t worry, I’ll get you out.” Then punches the mime into the wall. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/63 "2013-06-26T14:56:55Z")
One of my favorites: “They used dogs. They used probes. They used cardioplate crossoffs. They used teepers. They used bribery. They used stiktytes. They used intimidation. They used torment. They used torture. They used finks. They used cops. They used search & seizure. They used fallaron. They used betterment incentive. They used fingerprints. They used Bertillon. They used cunning. They used guile. They used treachery. They used Raoul Mitgong, but he didn’t help much. They used applied physics. They used techniques of criminology. And what the hell: they caught him.” – from “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said The Ticktockman”, by Harlan Ellison. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/64 "2013-06-26T15:04:01Z")
My favorite for the mumboist jumbo will always be Dr. Strange: “I summon the powers of the Vishanti! By the spell of the Dread Dormammu, in the name of the All-Seeing Agamotto – all thy powers I summon — begone, Forces of Darkness!” “Let the vapors of the Vishanti drive you from the sight of man! Let the mystic Hosts of Hoggoth prevent you from ever returning again!” “Back, creatures of the night!! Back – I command you, by the seven rings of Raggadorr!” “By the mystic moons of Munnopor – By the demons of night and day – By the flames of the flawless Faltine – Let yon spell be dissolved away!” These(and many more) can been found at Cat Yronwode’s [_The Lesser Book Of The Vishanti_](http://www.luckymojo.com/vishantivol1.html#vol1page15graph), the best Dr. Strange reference I have ever been to. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/65 "2013-06-26T17:24:01Z")
“The eye of Orion.” Though it isn’t mysterious in the context of the story, I always liked “Mother Hitton’s Littul Kittons,” one of dozens of great evocative names by Cordwainer Smith. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/66 "2013-06-26T18:11:43Z")
“The 600 series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy, but these are new. They look human… sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot.” ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/67 "2013-06-26T18:27:31Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Is pretty amusing. (From [_Aliens_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090605/quotes?ref_=tt_ql_3), of course.) That movie did a good job of implying a big roomy backstory, especially for the Colonial Marines (“_another_ bughunt”???). One Arcturian interpretation. [NSFW](http://i.imgur.com/fGfbILK.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/68 "2013-06-26T19:36:10Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Lucifer’s Hamster? Old joke among those of us who spent too much time discussing the book. Maybe too obscure to use here, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/69 "2013-06-26T19:47:58Z")
“The twins keep us on Centarian time. It’s a 37-hour day. Give it a few months, you’ll get used to it…or you’ll have a psychotic episode.” Men In Black ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/70 "2013-06-26T19:56:59Z")
[QUOTE=Alistair Grout] It is quite peculiar the happenings I’ve been made to witness from my supernatural longevity. I’m thinking of one unfortunate phenomenon in particular, of unique interest to my station both as a professional and as a sufferer of this vampiric condition. It seems the stream of time has begun to erode the moorings of my chosen course of study for the methodologies that gave birth to psychology are slowly disappearing. I find myself in an era that overlooks the physical component of psychological pathology time and again in favor of the sophistic practices of Freud. Phrenology, Dactopindalism, and the rest of the old guard is fallen by the wayside, its champions all silenced in death with my unique exception. Would that I could make my voice heard again, although it may be suspicious should I return to popular medical discourse fifty years after my apparent death. [/QUOTE] From _Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines._ What is “dactopindalism”, anyway?! No one seems to know… ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/71 "2013-06-26T20:20:03Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > From _Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines._ What is “dactopindalism”, anyway?! No one seems to know… Well, “pindal” is a West Indies word for “peanut”, so maybe “dactopindalism” is “reading peanuts”, like reading tea leaves? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/72 "2013-06-26T20:23:32Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Well, “pindal” is a West Indies word for “peanut”, so maybe “dactopindalism” is “reading peanuts”, like reading tea leaves? Considering that the character is a vampire psychologist who doesn’t believe in magic and superstition that’s unlikely. Of course he’s also _insane,_ so… ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/73 "2013-06-26T20:26:35Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Considering that the character is a vampire psychologist who doesn’t believe in magic and superstition that’s unlikely. Of course he’s also _insane,_ so… Well, my alternative definition was “grabbing somebody’s nuts and squeezing until the truth comes”. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/74 "2013-06-26T20:34:47Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Well, my alternative definition was “grabbing somebody’s nuts and squeezing until the truth comes”. ahem… > [@](#): > > Once more with feeling: > Considering that the character is a vampire psychologist who doesn’t believe in magic and superstition… That seems a bit more likely. 😃 My vote is just about everything Zelazny ever wrote, especially regarding Amber. There are entire realms invented just for those insane transit-sequences. Some of the NuWho episodes are similarly stuffed with asides of that sort. Drives me a bit batty; either they follow up on an idea and I don’t like what they did with it (Face of Boe) or they don’t follow up on it at all and I’m left disproportionately peeved that they let it drop (the Adipose as a race). ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/59ef9b/32.png) [@FlyingRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRat)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/75 "2013-06-26T20:52:19Z")
“He doesn’t know about the[three seashells](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBI8uCKi2lI).” ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/76 "2013-06-26T21:03:45Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > One Arcturian interpretation. [NSFW](http://i.imgur.com/fGfbILK.jpg). [psst](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16415311&postcount=24) “Here’s a quarter…thanks for nothin’.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/77 "2013-06-26T21:29:34Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > “The 600 series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy, but these are new. They look human… sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot.” > [@msmith537](#): > > “The twins keep us on Centarian time. It’s a 37-hour day. Give it a few months, you’ll get used to it…or you’ll have a psychotic episode.” I’m not sure either of these qualify since they’re pretty self-explanatory. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/78 "2013-06-26T21:50:47Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > If the line had been twelve minutes, that would at least have been a unit of time (in most uses)… Instead, the writer just pulled some word with a defined meaning out of the air, and misused it. Lynn, while you have a valid point, it is tangential to the point of this thread. For **Alessan** ’s purposes, 12 seconds or 12 minutes or 12 days or even 12 splitziks would have had the same impact. His point was the fact that “Kessel Run” is meaningless to us, but that we can parse from the use that it suggests it is a standard transport route and that 12 \_\_\_ is supposed to be impressive. Your issue with the misuse of “parsec” takes something that is supposed to sound impressive and makes it something to snicker at. For my example, I suppose Jabberwocky would be an example. It’s supposed to sound impressive without actually meaning anything. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/79 "2013-06-26T21:51:53Z")
Nobody mumbos the jumbos better than Scotty. > [@](#): > > Mr. Spock: Mr. Scott, since the Enterprise is obviously functional, I suggest we return to our starting place at top warp speed. > Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott: Aye, sir, but even at that it’ll take us a while to get there. > Mr. Spock: In that case, Mr. Scott, I suggest we start at once. Can you give me warp 8? > Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott: Aye, sir. And maybe a wee bit more. I’ll sit on the warp engines myself and nurse them. > Mr. Spock: That position, Mr. Scott, would not only be unavailing, but also… undignified. “Ach, Cap’n! Me wee Bairns of a warp engines! It cannae take the strain!” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915/80 "2013-06-26T22:00:02Z")
“Mumbo… perhaps! _Jumbo_? Perhaps NOT!” - _Futurama_, “The Honking” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo/661915.md?page=5)