# I need a Phrase **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-phrase/737109 "2015-11-09T15:45:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-phrase/737109/1 "2015-11-09T15:45:45Z")
A commonly used phrase when talking about the universe, on the tip of my tonque but I just can’t think of it. Organized chaos? Something like that? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-phrase/737109/2 "2015-11-09T16:08:39Z")
Something about entropy? “Organized chaos,” although a nice oxymoron, is just wrong–not that it, or something similarly wrong, wouldn’t have currency somewhere. Isn’t the answer to the Universe some integer in between 40-49? ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-phrase/737109/3 "2015-11-09T16:14:57Z")
Well, life/biology in the universe might be considered self-organizing from a thermodynamics POV. Not sure what common phrase you’re thinking of in a grander regard to the cosmos along those lines? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-phrase/737109/4 "2015-11-09T16:55:31Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Well, life/biology in the universe might be considered self-organizing from a thermodynamics POV. > > Not sure what common phrase you’re thinking of in a grander regard to the cosmos along those lines? I want to use the phrase for something unrelated to astrophysics but I have seen it used many times in discusions on how the universe was formed and how it exists. I believe but not certain that chaos is one of the words used in the phrase. It is a fairly commonly used phrase. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-phrase/737109/5 "2015-11-09T17:08:49Z")
Common buzz-phrases: Quantum Foam Primordial Soup The Force™ ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-phrase/737109/6 "2015-11-09T17:17:41Z")
“An apparently ordered mess”? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-phrase/737109/7 "2015-11-09T18:25:58Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Common buzz-phrases: > > Quantum Foam > > Primordial Soup > > The Force™ It may not be as common as I am thinking it is often used when talking about the primordial soup. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-phrase/737109/8 "2015-11-09T20:21:28Z")
Is it a phrase used, not in talking about Earth’s “primordial soup,” (the chains of amino acids etc that through a bolt of lightening or whatever one day sparked into life) but when speaking of the very early universe, right before matter began to form? Because I think I know the phrase you’re talking about, but I can’t recall it either. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-phrase/737109/9 "2015-11-09T20:45:58Z")
Well, there’s the term Primordial Universe. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-phrase/737109/10 "2015-11-09T20:53:07Z")
Is it deterministic chaos? That is the basis of Chaos Theory. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-phrase/737109/11 "2015-11-09T21:03:01Z")
That sounds like a winner. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-phrase/737109/12 "2015-11-10T03:00:27Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > Is it a phrase used, not in talking about Earth’s “primordial soup,” (the chains of amino acids etc that through a bolt of lightening or whatever one day sparked into life) but when speaking of the very early universe, right before matter began to form? Because I think I know the phrase you’re talking about, but I can’t recall it either. Yes, I think that describes the period ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-phrase/737109/13 "2015-11-10T03:03:37Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Is it deterministic chaos? That is the basis of Chaos Theory. I believe the meaning is exactly the same if not the the phrase itself, I will call this a winner!