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cargo cult

noun

Etymology

From cargo (“Western material goods”) + cult. First used in print by N. M. Bird in an article in 1945.

  1. derived from cultus
  2. derived from culte
  3. compounded as cargo cult — “cargo + cult”

Definitions

  1. Any of several religious movements among the people of Melanesia that anticipate the…

    Any of several religious movements among the people of Melanesia that anticipate the arrival of material cargo or cultural restoration, typically through the ritual imitation of the activities of colonial or technological cultures.

  2. Any of several philosophies, practices or pseudosciences that are not rooted in…

    Any of several philosophies, practices or pseudosciences that are not rooted in experiment, often characterized by an unreflected and ritualistic approach.

    • cargo cult science
    • cargo cult software engineering
    • “People should slow down and understand what they’re trying to optimize for before just following Jack,” Mr. Woo said. “You don’t want to be in a cargo cult type thing.”

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for cargo cult. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA