Dr. Foster's Dictionary, September 8, 2006

Today's entry in Dr. Foster's Dictionary comes from the section on slang usage, under "R".

ran-dom [ran-duhm]
adj.

1. occurring without definite aim, reason, or pattern.

"Since they still rely on fixed inputs for their algorithms, computers remain unable to generate truly random numbers.

2. [slang] irrelevent, disconnected, lost, apropos of nothing:

"Most of the Phi Kappa Alpha guys love Seth MacFarlane's random humor."

3. [slang] distasteful, tacky, or otherwise unaesthetic:

"Jane noted on her MySpace profile that her taste in music was 'really random'. She liked everything from Panic! At the Disco to Ashlee Simpson."

4. [slang] signifying choices made for the wrong reasons (usually because of inebriation and/or low self-esteem):

"Tori was not really looking for a relationship because of her recent success with random hookups."

5. [slang] as a beat, or placeholder, in the hipster patois.

"I was at some random bodega in this random part of Park Slope with these random people trying to find directions to this random gallery opening at random in random."