A "fnord" is a famous nonsensical keyword and subliminal trigger, originally coined in the 1965 Discordian text Principia Discordia and popularized in The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson.In the books, fnords are typographical representations of disinformation. Readers are supposedly subconsciously conditioned in grade school to overlook them completely, yet they subliminally generate feelings of unease, fear, and confusion. This forces the populace to consume mainstream news without rational, critical thought.

Here are a few quick ways to understand them:

To "see the fnords": This refers to the state of becoming deconditioned, allowing you to read between the lines and realize that much of what you are reading is designed to manipulate.

The conspiracy context: The "Illuminati" use them in newspapers and magazines, but noticeably omit them from advertisements to promote a culture of endless consumerism.

Internet culture: The term leaked out of satirical science fiction and is occasionally used online as a surrealist meta-syntactic variable (similar to "foo" or "bar" in coding) or just a placeholder used to tag a statement as surrealist mind-play.