Talk:inception

Sooner or later, as a result of the film, -ception will meet CFI as a suffix. Perhaps it already does. - -sche (discuss) 08:16, 19 April 2012 (UTC)
 * interested? I can't seem to cite it myself. —Μετάknowledge discuss/deeds 05:29, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
 * I'll see what I can do. -Cloudcuckoolander (talk) 05:45, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Done. Some of the -ception words may qualify for independent entries if more cites can be found. -Cloudcuckoolander (talk) 08:15, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Thank you! And I'm glad you saved Bilboesque from the KKK. —Μετάknowledge discuss/deeds 15:02, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Impressive! - -sche (discuss) 18:41, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

RFV discussion: November 2021
Rfv-sense "recursion, layering" – Jberkel 18:32, 2 November 2021 (UTC)


 * I added a couple of cites. Assuming we consider the song and the self-published 2020 book durably archived, this is cited. This, that and the other (talk) 03:34, 3 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Is the word used like that in the film? (it's been a while). Or is it by association, or from the uses of  ? – Jberkel 07:57, 3 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I've never seen the film; I assume it is just a lexicalisation of its name ("it was Inception all over again" became "it was an inception"). I just copied the etymology statement from . This, that and the other (talk) 08:24, 3 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I did see the film, but it was more than ten years ago so I don't recall how the word was used in the film. However, according to "Inception", in the film the concept of inception was "implanting an idea in a person's subconscious", which isn't the meaning indicated in the entry. Thus, I'm inclined to agree with This, that and the other. The premise of the film was that it was very difficult to tell reality from dreaming – characters would "wake up" from a dream to discover they were in another dream, as there were dreams implanted in dreams implanted in dreams, and so on. — SGconlaw (talk) 08:30, 3 November 2021 (UTC)


 * It is used as a common noun in the film to refer to this specific sci-fi implantation process. Examples from script: "If you're going to perform inception, you need imagination." - Or: "This isn't the usual corporate espionage, Mr. Saito. This is inception. The seed of the idea we plant will grow in this man's mind. It'll change him. It might even come to define him." Equinox ◑ 18:21, 3 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm going to perform more inception. In ten years the main sense will be forgotten. – Jberkel 00:32, 4 November 2021 (UTC)
 * That's good info, thanks. I've updated the etymology to just say it comes from the film, rather than specifically the title. This, that and the other (talk) 02:32, 4 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I disagree with the definition, even taking into account a new meaning inspired by the film. In the film, inception means the implantation of an idea into someone else's mind. These quotes seem to indicate a meaning closer to an idea that arises from a dream or from the subconscious mind, rather than anything to do with layering or recursion. (In the movie, the layering or recursion was to hide the origin of the inception, so that the conscious mind did not reject it as coming from an external source.) I think whoever wrote this definition is getting misled by the looser association of  Kiwima (talk) 05:44, 4 November 2021 (UTC)
 * well, we should follow the quotations, definitely. — SGconlaw (talk) 05:55, 4 November 2021 (UTC)
 * It doesn't refer solely to dreams or the subconscious mind. It's become a slangy shorthand for "thing-within-a-thing," after the dream-within-a-dream plot of the film. The third cite is a reference to someone drawing a picture of someone drawing a picture. Turducken would be an inception involving birds. WordyAndNerdy (talk) 06:20, 4 November 2021 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I've never seen the film but I have anecdotally seen people online use it to refer to recursion, where perhaps slightly more (computer-)nerdy people would use the always hilarious "recursion, noun. see recursion" joke. Equinox ◑ 07:20, 4 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I added another cite (Grant) which seems to support the given definition. Before this discussion unfolded I was tempted to add "particularly concerning dreams" to the end of the definition we currently have, but it's indeed possible there are two separate senses derived from the film. This, that and the other (talk) 01:03, 5 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Fair enough. I am probably being misled by my own understanding of the film, and a lack of context on the quotes. Kiwima (talk) 01:32, 5 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I found some uses on Google Groups which may support a different definition: (this appears to be a Usenet group) and  (I have no idea whether this is a Usenet post). There is also, a book that uses the word several times in a way that I can't quite grasp. This, that and the other (talk) 01:41, 5 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Those quotes all point to something closer to the use of the term in the movie: an implanted idea, or, in the case of the book, and idea that appears in a dream and carries forward after waking. Kiwima (talk) 21:14, 6 November 2021 (UTC)

RFV-passed Kiwima (talk) 08:25, 13 November 2021 (UTC)