granfalloon
/ˌɡɹæn.fəˈluːn/
granfalloon means A group of two or more people who imagine or are manipulated to believe they share a connection based on some circumstance of little or no real significance. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
granfalloon is pronounced /ˌɡɹæn.fəˈluːn/.
Why “granfalloon” is a great word
A group of people who imagine or are led to believe they share a significant connection based on a trivial or arbitrary commonality. Coined in 1963 by American writer Kurt Vonnegut in his novel *Cat's Cradle*; a constructed term for a 'false karass' or a 'proud and meaningless association of human beings'. Unlike a 'community,' which implies a genuine, organic web of shared interests and identity, or a 'cohort,' which denotes a factual, significant grouping, a granfalloon is an affiliation whose substance is pure ceremony. It is the fervent camaraderie among strangers who attended the same large university, the manufactured solidarity of consumers who buy the same brand of car, and the chest-thumping patriotism rooted in nothing more than the accident of a shared map line—all elegant fictions we construct to ward off the terror of our true, utter aloneness.
Etymology
Coined by American writer Kurt Vonnegut in 1963, in the novel Cat's Cradle, in which Vonnegut described the term as referencing a false karass, or "a proud and meaningless association of human beings"; later adopted by market researchers and social scientists.
noun
- A group of two or more people who imagine or are manipulated to believe they share a connection based on some circumstance of little or no real significance.“Gamers are nothing but members of an enormous granfalloon. The word [gamers] totally fails to accurately describe anything about a person when it comes to capturing their interests in interactive entertainment, and yet many gaming enthusiasts cling to the term and make it a facet of their identity.”