Word salad

A cloth embroidered by a person with schizophrenia

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“”The film is nothing more than the cart issues, wishes ramp and that lashbone, be hydrodash-tower, and cramp seven lash. Milbord zakt feebled-seven, tilsubatidemisemistupan.

—Terry Bruge-Hiplo, Movie Reviews

Word salad is a term applied to rants and ramblings that completely fly off the rails of normal grammar and meaning.

Sometimes it is technobabble too shabby to look even superficially convincing, but sometimes it doesn't obviously aim at anything at all. Sometimes it is calm, sometimes it is highly emotional. The term is also pejoratively used for statements void of any meaning, even when grammatically correct.

Not your typical deli salad

The most obvious example, of course, is the Time Cube website. Many other people manage to diverge into what "looks like" a human language, but on deeper exploration (called "reading") proves to be utter nonsense.

Someone's rant may be called "word salad" if their beliefs are so extreme (or their word choice and grammar is so absolutely godawful) that their screed appears nonsensical to the average person. Incels and members of the autistic dark web are examples of people whose manifestos may be dubbed word salad.

The New Age world is also famous for its many channeled world salads, in which various spiritual beings or often suspiciously human-looking aliens explain the secrets of the universe or just deliver loving pep talks, often mashing up all manner of deepity and technobabble and bold claims and predictions.

Mental disorders

If a usually coherent person begins speaking in word salad, this is usually a sign they need to see a doctor, sometimes urgently. Word salad (schizophasia) can be a sign of:

• An oncoming stroke (Call emergency services immediately)
• Schizophrenia
• Psychosis
• Brain damage
• Aphasia, especially Wernicke's aphasia
• Another potentially serious condition

Toxic word salads

"Word salad" can also colloquially refer to a type of gaslighting in which an abuser jumps rapidly from one topic to the next, making many accusations and moving on before the target can defend themselves. The goal is to deflect, confuse, and silence. While this is frequently described as an issue in abusers who have narcissistic personality disorder, any abuser (regardless of diagnosis) is capable of doing this.

This is different from typical word salad because the abuser's misuse of language is strategic. They are using it to browbeat someone, not attempting to earnestly express themselves (or just goof off).

Just having fun

Word salad generators are sometimes written by beginning programmers for the sake of amusement.

Examples

Some phrases could be cool band names

• The bright diamonds browbeat sterile furry bits
• Her rigid cutting boards bang absorbent verbs
• My communist cubicles legislate tacky lobsters
• His jocular dots pasteurize virtual pills
• Their defective cockroachs seize godforsaken disasters
• Full of sport mind & luxury feeling super potential winter wheel Iver
• Just a roller skate grand touring. All over the physical ironic power

Quantum

See the main article on this topic: Quantum woo

• Quantum energy vibration frequencies
• Spiritual quantum energy fluctuations
• Quantum crystal vibration auras

See also

• Argument by gibberish
• Birth Control Is Sinful In The Christian Marriages and also Robbing God Of Priesthood Children!!
• Bullshit
• Dennis Markuze
• Dr. Bronner's Soap
• Francis E. Dec
• Argumentum ad tl;dr
• Green ink
• Management speak
• Non sequitur
• Speaking in tongues
• Time Cube

External links

• Philosopher Pulls a Sokal on Theology Conferences — Two theology conferences mistook this intentional word salad for serious theology, see duping theologians. For the meaning behind "pulling a Sokal", see our article on the Sokal affair.