Hyperbathum
Hyperbathum(n). An exceeding, or beyond ludicrous, anticlimax. It happens when you expect something interesting but when you fully comprehend what happened, you discover that it’s a completely made up term with no depth at all.
- hyper-
word-forming element meaning “over, above, beyond,” and often implying “exceedingly, to excess,” from Greek hyper (prep. and adv.) “over, beyond, overmuch, above measure,” from PIE root *uper “over.” - bathos(n.) A “ludicrous anticlimax, a descent from the sublime to the ridiculous,” 1727, from Greek bathos “depth,” which is related to bathys “deep”
Sometimes you need an imaginary concept or product to distract from the everyday concerns of the person you’re demonstrating something to. It’s important to provide context when explaining how a system works, and when doing so, everyday reality can sometimes get in the way.
A first step is to devise an imaginary organization with imaginary/fictional processes and fictitious actors. Use meaningful content. Microsoft does this through the Contoso concept.
A few years ago, I organized/set up a demonstration for a concept in auto-classification. The client’s reality wasn’t supposed to be the subject of that demonstration. I then came up with a salvage company, Contoso Salvage, and they were tasked with chartering a ship, loading it with helicopters and camping gear, and the mission was to the Faroe Islands to salvage a Hyperbathum. When the audience asked what a hyperbathum was, I said with a straight face that I couldn’t talk about it.
The audience enjoyed it, and I captured the right atmosphere because I had playfully played with sensitive information and how it should be treated as such.
Useful Baloney