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Re:Professor's apparent request to student for fake data pub... by gojomo on Thursday August 08, 2013 @05:57PM (#6182233)
Absolutely true! However the innocent-form of 'fabricate'/'fabrication' is mostly used with involved manufacturing/assembly processes, rather than a discovery/transcription process.

So specifically if 'fabrication' is chosen where a simpler word would do, or chosen to contrast with a simpler word, then it acquires increasing implication of falsified/counterfeit work.

If you (or more likely an large team/firm) can 'fabricate' a 'car', good job, you're skilled.

If on the other hand you 'fabricate' a 'paper' or 'result' or 'fact' or 'photo' or 'logo', you're involved in something shady.

Re:Professor's apparent request to student for fake data pub... by honestcoyote on Thursday August 08, 2013 @06:13PM (#6182327)
Fabrication is a bit amusing.

This factory fabricates iPhones.

vs.

The fabricated iPhones came from this factory.

Re:Professor's apparent request to student for fake data pub... by jholman on Thursday August 08, 2013 @10:47PM (#6183431)
When physical objects are fabricated, it means they're created. "Fabricated" never means "of fraudulent provenance", like your iPhone example.

When statements-which-purport-to-be-facts are fabricated, it means they're falsified. So "his claim (that these phones are iPhones) was fabricated" does mean that the phones are not truly iPhones.

As I consider it, this makes some sense; you cannot create a fact, but you can create a physical object, and you can create a lie. Things like an analysis are on the border. And indeed, my intuition as a native speaker accepts "fabricate an analysis" in either sense.

Re:Professor's apparent request to student for fake data pub... by gojomo on Friday August 09, 2013 @05:29AM (#6184590)
Never say never; I think most American speakers would find that the 'fabricated iPhones' noun phrase implies that the iPhones are counterfeits. Otherwise the adjective would be awkwardly unnecessary – all iPhones are already manufactured. So, it must be there to emphasize (or at least hint at) the other meaning of 'fabricated'.

It's a little bit of an uncommon/sloppy usage, but still clear... more likely to appear in impromptu speech than writing.

Re:Professor's apparent request to student for fake data pub... by pekk on Thursday August 08, 2013 @10:41PM (#6183406)
"The fabricated iPhones" simply means the iPhones which were made.

"The fabricated news came from this propaganda ministry" works perfectly, however

Re:Professor's apparent request to student for fake data pub... by vacri on Thursday August 08, 2013 @11:27PM (#6183589)
'The fabricated iPhones came from this factory', where 'fabricated' means 'produced', is a tautology and hence an ungainly way to present such a sentence ('unfabricated iPhones' wouldn't 'come from' anywhere). As presented, I feel it's more likely for 'fabricated' to mean 'fake', given the context.
Re:Professor's apparent request to student for fake data pub... by pekk on Friday August 09, 2013 @11:44AM (#6186309)
I don't think "fabricated iPhones" means fake iPhones at all. It might be awkward, but that doesn't mean that it means 'fake'.