Bogon
[by analogy with proton/electron/neutron, but doubtlessly reinforced after 1980 by the similarity to Douglas Adams's 'Vogons'; see the Bibliography] n.
1. The elementary particle of bogosity (see quantum bogodynamics). For instance, "the Ethernet is emitting bogons again" means that it is broken or acting in an erratic or bogus fashion.
2. A query packet sent from a TCP/IP domain resolver to a root server, having the reply bit set instead of the query bit.
3. Any bogus or incorrectly formed packet sent on a network.
4. By synecdoche, used to refer to any bogus thing, as in "I'd like to go to lunch with you but I've got to go to the weekly staff bogon".
5. A person who is bogus or who says bogus things. This was historically the original usage, but has been overtaken by its derivative senses 1--4.
