Tuesday, August 12, 2008
A blog by any other name
What is a blog? Have you ever really thought about it? Really what is it? I've been contemplating the meaning of this word for some time now. Did someone some day just make up the word? They were probably thinking to themselves, "hmmm. I wish to rant and rave about a particular topic or maybe even nothing at all. I wish to do this online, so that everyone in the world and their dog can have a taste of my mind. The problem is, I don't have a word that captures the magnitude of this globally viewable journal that I wish to publish. Rant and Rave just doesn't give enough justice. I know I'll make up a word.......I like the word log, as in logging in or logging down what I think, but that alone isn't enough. maybe it could be something with blah. Thats it! blah-log. Yes blah-log." Sadly to the man's dismay, the blah part, which is really what they are all about, was shortened to just a b. So there you have it blog. So maybe this is a fictitious story that I made up to explain why in the world do we call it blogging. 20 years ago, the word didn't exist in the English language. This phenomenon known only as blogging is so big that a new word had to be made up to capture its grandeur. Shakespeare is known for creating new words that have become cannon over the course of time. I may not know where the name came from, but I do know it for what it is - a small word trying to describe a multitude of people's opinions, philosophies, ideas, stories, rants and raves. Millions upon millions of differing concepts all binded together in one category: A Blog. I just don't know how such a simple word can do it without bursting from the pressure. Its a huge task for just a simple word. Thus I leave you with another of my own personal Blogs.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
web + log = weblog, which is 2 syllables, and on the rule that "all frequently used words must be shortened to one syllable," it is now blog.
Pardon my etymology.
Post a Comment