Internet jargon; if used, explain that it means 'Web log' or 'Web journal'

There. There is it, the stylebook entry that the AP removed several years ago, when blog "become so common and so much a part of the language that it was no longer necessary."

The distinction between "blog means Web log" (true) and "blog is short for Web log" (untrue) is a subtle one, I get it. Maybe, if the AP entry had been a little more clear, copy editors would be going after that phony etymology like so many improper uses of the word podium.

What I don't understand is why here, now, in May of 2008, you're all using blog like some sort of catch-all for "anything written on the Internet."

(See that capitalized Internet? I did that for you. I'm sorry that I seem so angry right now.)

I've seen this many times before, but here's the lede that set me off today:

Burger King said Tuesday it fired two employees following the disclosure that an executive secretly posted blogs slamming a farmworker advocacy group.

The rest of the story ("Burger King fires 2 after blog controversy") doesn't mention blogs, just postings. Which is appropriate, because blogs were not involved in any way. It turns out that all the statements in question were made in comment threads.

Bloggerheads has a great roundup of what probably happened. Misusing blog is bad enough, but here are some useful words that should have been in the AP piece: comment, sock-puppeting, YouTube.

So how do you spot a blog? Definitions vary, but nowadays it's almost universally accepted that on a blog, content will be arranged in reverse-chronological order, i.e. with new stuff at the top. For much, much more on defining the weblog, check out my increasingly outdated master's thesis.

Or, here's a neat trick: substitute Web log for blog in your article. If you can't, you're probably misusing the word blog.

Labels: editing, semantics

After downloading the Firefox add-on Long Titles 1.3 a few weeks ago, I've been re-reading through the Dinosaur Comics to see all the hilarious alt text I missed. I'm done with that now, but I brought you back a souvenir: five years' worth of language comics.

Loosely categorized! Whoo!

Words we hate comics

It's a disaster!

You heard me!

Men stereotypically leave the toilet seat up!

There are other words than "bitches"! Daaamn!

It is not a generic intensifier!

Words we love comics

For instance: the word "awful" (really bad) and the word "offal" (butchered entrails)!

Sorry, other word classes! I have a NEW girlfriend now!

Prescriptivism comics

So dumb!

Well, yeah!

And guys I wasn't even trying that hard!

FOR EXAMPLE: T-Rex is a pretty sweet dude because he's always so friggin' awesome!

RESOLUTION ONE: eat less chickens!

Man! I'll never have kids at this rate!

Okay! Our first letter comes from Jenn!

Cowboy hat dude got DECIMATED!

Guys! I am not alone in this!

(Pleonasm is the use of redundant, unnecessary words to express an idea!)

Etymology comics

However, this is not the case!

I also left a big tip, so as not to appear NIGGARDLY!

They MOVED?

A HISTORY OF HYSTERIA

First: snake oil salesmen!

Linguistics-ish comics

This source says: DEFINITELY YES!

It's the coolest!

Labels: comics, etymology, geekery, grammar politics, spelling

Because I'm far too lazy to come up with a less confusing title graphic — and because I haven't worked as a copy editor for a few months now and because I've become dissatisfied with the original name and because who am I to argue with Language Hat and Language Log? — I'm officially renaming this site Language is the People's.

Please adjust your links accordingly.

Here's a new term from a friend of mine who works for everyone's favorite cable company:

golden eye - someone who can notice very slight differences in picture quality

A quick search brings up this cite from an article on Comcast's switch to 3-to-1 HD compression:

"The testers are our engineers who we call 'golden eyes,' who have a proven track record of picking up subtle differences in picture quality," he said.

The reference is probably to the animal kingdom or the monetary value of good eyesight, and not to Perrin from the interminable Wheel of Time series.

I like golden eye — it has a narrower sense than eagle eye and it pushes back against the conflation of enthusiasm and perceptual ability that you sometimes get with videophile. And this is pretty cool:

golden eye : sight :: super taster : taste.

Now I just wish we had a similar term for people who can hear all the beeps.

Labels: semantics, vocab

For those of you new to Notes from the Copy Editor, the sidebar has a little blog-within-a-blog of language stuff I've del.icio.us-ed. Every month or so, I highlight my very favorite links. The good stuff.

So here's my favorite language-related stuff for April:

The Onion - Commas, Turning Up, Everywhere
More punctuation humor from the people who brought you "Copy Editor's Revenge Takes Form Of Unhyphenated Word."

Motivated Grammar - Preposterous Apostrophes VII: Why Won't Willn't Work?
Because we've all been wondering: here's why we abbreviate will not as won't.

H&FJ - Pilcrow & Capitulum
Typographer Jonathan Hoefler explains the origin of the paragraph mark and the choices you can make while designing it. He followed up this post with a similar introduction to the ampersand. via wordworker.

Wikipedia - Mopery
I thought this was just a synonym of the gerund moping, but Wikipedia introduced me to two interesting alternative definitions: "walking down the street with no clear destination or purpose" and "exposing oneself to a statue or blind person."

Language Log - Angry linguistic mobs with torches
Mark Liberman makes excellent use of Language Log's new "Prescriptivist Poppycock" tag.

Wisconsin Englishes Podcast
A defunct podcast covering the various Wisconsin dialects. If you've ever been to Wisconsin, then you'll find the first three or four episodes especially interesting. The first episode ("Yah Hey!") has a great song about the Fox River Valley at the 11:40 mark. I just discovered this, but Mr. Verb was blogging about it years ago.

Stereotypist - The Signifier vs. The Signified
A one-off custom comic for philosophy of language geeks, drawn by the creator of Pictures for Sad Children.

Labels: links

Congratulations to Rob Walker of Murketing for his pioneering, straight-faced use of the phrase Internet famous in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine:

The business first became Internet famous a decade ago, but has proved remarkably durable, with sales climbing to around $4.5 million last year.

It's new to the NYT, but Internet famous has been around for a while now. Last year Time had an article on an "Internet Famous" course offered through the Parsons New School for Design.

Years ago I coined (or re-coined; it's so hard to tell) the phrase Internet true, but it didn't go anywhere. I blame truthiness.

Labels: geekery, vocab

Thanks to a recent Mighty Red Pen post on Alaskan place names, I've just discovered the wonders of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names website. There's too much good stuff to excerpt in one post, so let's start with a brief BGN primer from their awesome FAQ:

The Board is responsible by law for standardizing geographic names throughout the Federal Government, and discourages name changes unless necessary. Further, the Board states that, "changing a name merely to correct or re-establish historical usage is not in and of itself a reason to change a name."

That last sentence really makes things interesting. More BGN geekery:

New name proposals
The Apostrophe Problem
Trivia roundup

Labels: geekery, naming