C

Fictionisms: 0-9 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

Cap'n Crunch

a sea captain whose primary concern is keeping his boat floating; from advertising for a breakfast cereal of the same name.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

an intelligent flying car, constructed by an engineer from spare parts; named for its noisy engine; from a novel of the same name by Ian Fleming.

Cheezy Poofs

South Park. a cheese-flavored snack considered as an example of commercialized junk food; later issued as a real-life product.

China Syndrome, The

a story of a uncontrollable core meltdown at a nuclear power plant; the phrase refers to the idea that a large enough meltdown would melt any material below it, descending through the ground and mantle until it reached the core — with chiched exaggeration, it would travel downward all the way to China.

Christie, Agatha

author of many murder mystery novels, which define a recognizable style of murder mystery.

Church Lady

Saturday Night Live. a woman noted for a narrow-minded conservative Christian ideology and a tendency to find Satanic motivations in the actions and beliefs of others.

close encounters

contact with intelligent alien life; popularized in the motion picture Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

cone of silence

Get Smart. a acoustical barrier positioned over two or a few people holding a sensitive conversation to prevent the discussion from being overheard.

Cookie Monster

Sesame Street. a puppet character noted for enthusiasm for and rapid eating of cookies.

Could it be . . . Satan???

Saturday Night Live. character expression of Church Lady in ascribing Satanic motivations to the actions or beliefs of the person she is addressing.

crystals

used in fiction for storing data and focusing energy.

cyber-

relying on the power of thoughts; sometimes using human thoughts to guide machines; sometimes using abstractions as a substitute for material objects.

cyborg

a thinking machine; a machine controlled by human thoughts; a human with extensive mechanical components.