This glossary offers quick definitions of terms and acronyms used in discussing Lost and The Lost Experience. Please link directly to the subheading, and keep entries in alphabetical order.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A[]
Alt[]
Short for alternate timeline, used to describe the flash-sideways timeline.
Arc[]
A term for television plot lines that extend over multiple episodes, but not an entire series. Example: the Sayid/Shannon romance is an arc across Seasons 1 and 2.
ARG[]
An acronym for "alternate reality game", such as The Lost Experience, Find 815, or Dharma Initiative Recruiting Project.
B[]
Bagel[]
The code word used by the producers to refer to the scene in the finale of Season 1 of Walt's abduction by the Others. Such codes are commonly used by TV producers to keep plots a secret, most famously by Ellen to keep the main character's "coming out" episode a secret via the code "The Puppy Episode."
Bagua[]
Symbol used in Taoism and the I Ching, which is the basis for the DHARMA Initiative logo.
Breaking Strain[]
This was the first password of The Lost Experience, used in the Sign up for the Hanso Foundation Newsletter section. A strain is a breed or variety of the same species, especially one which is artificially produced or obtained through mutation in a culture. In microbiology, some strains of the same species of bacteria are more virulent (dangerous) than others, and some target one species of host over another (such as human beings). These are often coded for with numbers and letters. Ex: E. coli O157:H7 (causes a particularly bad form of food poisoning). A "breaking strain" would be a new strain that has just developed or mutated.
C[]
Charladay[]
Charladay is the fan-given name to the speculative romantic relationship between Charlotte Lewis and Daniel Faraday.
Canon[]
Carte Blanche[]
Carte blanche is a borrowed term from French that means 'blank check'. Kate uses this term in "Outlaws" to get Sawyer to let her have access to whatever she wants in his stash with no questions asked, in return for helping him track the boar. While getting somewhat personal with Kate when playing the "I never" game, Sawyer makes Kate reveal that she never really cared about carte blanche, she just wanted to spend some time with Sawyer. Kate never actually gets carte blanche, or in effect, access, to Sawyer's stash. In a deleted scene Kate argues with Sawyer about having carte blanche after the final boar encounter. The term also appears in The Lost Experience, as Rachel Blake says, "I guess THIS is how the Hanso Foundation has carte blanche on anything it wants to do in any part of the world..."
CDC[]
Mentioned briefly in the first Hanso Correspondence (part of The Lost Experience). Stands for Centers for Disease Control, a real life organization (under the Department of Health and Human Services) concerned with disease control (especially pandemics) and prevention. They perform governmental watchdog and regulatory duties overseeing various research facilities.
Centric[]
An episode that is "centric" for a particular character is one that is focused on their perspective, and usually contains flashbacks or flashforwards that give us insight on their past (or future) and motivations. A clue about centricity is sometimes given at the beginning of an episode when a closeup of the character's eye is shown, although this has been proven sometimes misleading.
Challah[]
The code word used by the producers to refer to the final scene of Season 2, Penny's discovery of the the Island. Filming of the Challah was done only five days before the May 24th, 2006 airdate of "Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1" in order to ensure secrecy. Such codes are commonly used by TV producers to keep plots a secret, most famously by Ellen to keep the main character's "coming out" episode a secret via the code "The Puppy Episode."
D[]
Darlton[]
A portmanteau term combining "Damon" and "Carlton" that some fans use to refer to the producers/show runner duo of Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.
Deuterocanon[]
Dharmacakra[]
DIRP[]
An acronym for the Dharma Initiative Recruiting Project
Drake Equation[]
The Valenzetti Equation is said to be like this theoretical equation, used in astrophysics to estimate the probability of extraterrestrial life in other systems. The comparison may not be one denoting similarity to subject matter, but rather to type and format (the Drake Equation is said to have so many variables of unknown values that it is near impossible to solve for in practical terms).
DWY[]
An acronym of Dharmawantsyou.com
DIHG[]
An acronym for the combined group of DHARMA Initiative and the Hanso Foundation.
E[]
Easter egg[]
EDC[]
An acronym that is short for Engineering Development Center, the Hanso Foundation related organization that Dr. Hackett worked for (in The Lost Experience).
ERI[]
F[]
Fanon[]
A contraction of "fan-canon", something of a contradiction in terms. It is basically fan-created material that is unofficial, but can expand or spin off of established canon, such as fan art or fan fiction. In some circles, it can refer to almost any fan-made material.
Foiler[]
A portmanteau term meaning fake spoiler. There have been cases in the past where the Lost production team has deliberately encouraged the spreading of a foiler rumor, to lead speculation away from a real spoiler.
Frozen Donkey Wheel[]
The code name used by the producers to refer to a secret scene from the Season 4 finale close to the end, but not the final scene itself. Such code names are commonly used by TV producers to keep plots a secret, most famously by Ellen to keep the main character's "coming out" episode a secret via the code "The Puppy Episode". After the airing of "There's No Place Like Home, Part 2", it became clear that "Frozen Donkey Wheel" referred to a literal frozen wheel.
G[]
GWC[]
H[]
Heuristics[]
I[]
IGA[]
ITE[]
Acronym for Inside the Experience, Speaker's blog site.
J[]
Jackback[]
Jackback is a fanon term for a flashback centered on Jack. [1]
Jacket[]
The portmanteau term that some fans use to refer to the Jack/Juliet romantic pairing, especially those fans more interested in the romantic aspects of the show.
Jackface[]
Jackface is a fanon term to describe contorted facial expressions made by Jack.
Jate[]
The portmanteau term that some fans use to describe the Jack/Kate romantic pairing, especially those fans more interested in the romantic aspects of the show.
Jump the Shark[]
A non-Lost specific term to describe the point at which a TV show goes too far and starts introducing ridiculous plot lines and gimmicks to try and revive its popularity. It is a term derived from the show Happy Days, in which Fonzie literally jumped over a shark while water skiing in a leather jacket. Before the airing of "Through the Looking Glass, Part 1", the producers stated that the ending would cause some to think the show had jumped the shark. See Wikipedia article
K[]
Karlex[]
The portmanteau used by some fans to describe the Karl/Alex relationship.
L[]
LEP[]
See Main Article
Lindelcuse[]
See Darlton.
LST[]
LostPedia Standard Time, which follows Pacific Time (GMT-8) (observing daylight savings time) to code its entries. For the purposes of charting The Lost Experience clues and entering other time-sensitive information, they should be entered to correspond with when they were discovered in LostPedia Standard Time (LST).
Lostaways[]
Some fans seem to have adopted this word as a designation for a dedicated fan of Lost, the equivalent of "Trekkie".
Losties[]
A term to refer to the protagonists of the series such as the survivors, defected Others, and the science team. Sometimes used a name for fans, like Lostaway.
Lostverse[]
Shorthand for the Lost universe.
M[]
Meningococcal Disease[]
See Main Article
Metafiction[]
Fiction within fiction; for example, the manuscript Bad Twin written by Flight 815 survivor Gary Troup, which ends up in the hands of Sawyer. Many aspects of The Lost Experience expanded universe included multiple 'layers of reality'.
MFI[]
See Main Article
MHA[]
See Main Article
Mythology[]
A term for television plot lines that span the entire series. On Lost, the mystery of the the Island and the fate of the crash victims comprise the mythology. Could also refer to cultural mythology references seen on the show, or mythology specific to the show (the Numbers, the Others, polar bears on an island) seen in outside references to Lost.
N[]
Namaste[]
O[]
OG[]
An acronym for The Other Girl
P[]
Parthenogenesis[]
Found in the code of The Lost Experience site Richerdeeperbroader.com, and later used as a password for viewing an image of a shark corpse. It is a term that describes a form of asexual reproduction in which an unfertilized egg develops into an organism which has the identical DNA as the maternal line. Occurs naturally in some insects like aphids, and rarely in higher organisms such as the whiptail lizard.
Project Sumo[]
In one of the letters to Dr. Hackett in The Lost Experience, there is brief mention of a "Project Sumo", which are drug reformulation trials that are "going well".
Psychotropic[]
In a letter correspondence to Dr. Hackett (part of The Lost Experience), some of the ingredients in a product made by Apollo Candy are said to be psychotropic. This term describes something that can have an altering effect on perception, emotion, or behavior (especially, in a drug).
R[]
Rattlesnake in the Mailbox[]
The code name used by the producers to refer to the final scene of Season 3, the reveal of Jack's flash-forward in "Through the Looking Glass, Part 1". Originally thought to be "The Snake in the Mailbox", Lindelof stated the full name as "The Rattlesnake in the Mailbox". [2] Such codes are commonly used by TV producers to keep plots a secret, most famously by Ellen to keep the main character's "coming out" episode a secret via the code "The Puppy Episode."
Redshirt[]
See Main Article
S[]
Screencap[]
See Main Article
Shipper[]
Short for "relationshipper", the term refers to fans who are heavily invested in romance between characters. Shippers often combine the names of the couple into one word, like "Skate" or "Shayid." The term originated from X-Files fans who wanted a relationship between the two main X-Files characters, Mulder and Scully. "Shipper" is now used as a generic term to describe fans who are interested in particular romantic pairings on TV shows.
Skate[]
The portmanteau term that some fans use to describe the Sawyer/Kate romantic pairing, especially those fans that are interested in the more romantic aspects of the show.
Spider Protocol[]
See Main Article
Spoiler[]
Something that gives away information about future episodes of the show that have not yet been aired. Recently, nearly all spoilers have been banned from the wiki. See also: Lostpedia:Spoiler Policy.
Spoiler-free[]
A way of viewing any television show or movie; very prominent in the Lost fan community. There are varying degrees of spoiler-freedom. In the most extreme level of spoiler-freedom, the person restricts himself to just watching the show every week. The viewer rarely visits Lost websites or blogs, and avoids promotional material, even the trailer at the end of the episode. There are less extreme degrees of spoiler-freedom, but all of these levels generally avoid major plot-revealing spoilers.
T[]
Tailies[]
A name used by the crew and fans to refer to the tail section survivors.
TINAG[]
Acronym for "This is Not a Game", used by gamers to denote a "curtain" between themselves and the alternate reality game writers.
THF[]
Acronym for The Hanso Foundation.
TLE[]
Acronym for "The Lost Experience", an alternate reality game (ARG) designed by the writers and producers of Lost to engage fans and expand the storyline.
TLEC[]
Acronym for The Lost Experience Clues, a popular blog set up to discuss The Lost Experience.
TLN[]
Acronym for The Lost Ninja
TOG[]
See OG
TPTB[]
Acronym for "The Powers That Be." Refers to the head creators of a show (Abrams/Lindelof/Cuse for Lost) or the writers and puppetmasters of a game like The Lost Experience. Popularized for television fans from the show Angel, where TPTB gave orders to the main characters. In particular, "TPTB" is usually differentiated from various arms of the broadcast network, such as ABC in the case of Lost (whose marketing department created the diary), which is an important distinction for issues of canonicity of content.
Transgenic[]
In the first Hanso Correspondence letter (part of The Lost Experience), the GWC accuses the Hanso Foundation of spreading a transgenic virus from their primate research facility in Zanzibar. This term pertains to an organism whose DNA has been altered by inclusion of genes from another species. It is actually not entirely uncommon in the modern horticultural (cultivation of plants) field. In bacteria, this is sometimes done with bacteriophage vectors, which are viruses bioengineered to transfer genes from another bacterium.
TWM[]
Acronym for Dr. Thomas Werner Mittelwerk, president of the Hanso Foundation in The Lost Experience.
V[]
Via Domus[]
Lost: Via Domus is the official Lost video game.
W[]
WWP DP[]
Y[]
YTMND[]
See also[]
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