BLOG
Isn’t "blog" a great word?
It’s a place on the Internet to put written stuff – thoughts, comments. People can read and react to what they read – if they want.
The word “blog” sounds lumpy – bloated – clogged – overweight – overloaded – like a small car belonging to a kid going off to college – with all that stuff stuck in the back seat, front seat, trunk, and under the seats – plastic containers with rolled up posters and books – CD’s and t-shirts, a favorite pillow, and a Teddy Bear or two if it’s a girl – and all those plastic bags.
So I get the sense that blogs can become bloated. Too many entries and too many comments can become like logs that traffic jam the river and we end up with a blog jam.
Right now my plan is to use this "blog” for sermons, poems, prayers, stories, wonderings, essays.
Other bloggers go for lots of feedback. That's not my plan. Time!
I have stuff published – and each book and magazine article had to face the possibility of being returned from an editor with a “rejection slip”. The trouble with blogs could be lack of rejection ships – not enough substance, thought and research, etc. Let the reader beware. Let the surfer beware of the waves!
Some writers are hit with the comment: “He or she never had an unpublished thought!”
The comments on this blog are thought out thoughts – and the escape button is always a few inches away from your editorial eye. Use the remote!
Some writers are hit with the comment: “He or she never had an unpublished thought!”
The comments on this blog are thought out thoughts – and the escape button is always a few inches away from your editorial eye. Use the remote!
Okay. Back to the word "Blog".
I typed in the word “blog” on “Google” – another great word – to see if I could find out its history and mystery.
"Blog" seems to be a combination and a play on three words: “web” and “log” “we”.
I found out that the word “blog” was found in the writings of James Joyce and Dr. Seuss, as well as in what looks like a Superman cartoon. But they weren’t using it in its new meaning. In the world of cyberspace, Jorn Borger used the word “weblog” in December of 1997. Then a web designer from San Francisco, Peter Merholz, shortened it to “blog” in April or May 1999.
The Web – the Internet Web – that webs the world – providing billions and billions and billions of bytes of information – can be a sit down education experience.
For example in looking up where “blog” came from, I noticed the phrase, “portmanteau word”. I never heard of such an expression. Here was another word to look up. This time I went the old fashioned way. I reached for my dictionary. Yes, people still do that, I found out that a “portmanteau” is a leather suitcase or valise that has two sections when opened. It’s handy, because one can put “stuff” in either side. It comes from the French words “porter” to carry and “manteau” a cloak. It hit me that “portmanteau” is a portmanteau word – having two parts. So many words are blendings of sound and image in our efforts to communicate with each other. It makes the study of language very interesting. Wow. I also noticed that when reading about all this that the word “smog” is a combination of “smoke” and “fog” – just as “blog” is a combination of “web” and “log”.
Enough already! I hope the stuff in this blog is not just a lot of "mud" - a combination of mist and cloud.
"Blog" seems to be a combination and a play on three words: “web” and “log” “we”.
I found out that the word “blog” was found in the writings of James Joyce and Dr. Seuss, as well as in what looks like a Superman cartoon. But they weren’t using it in its new meaning. In the world of cyberspace, Jorn Borger used the word “weblog” in December of 1997. Then a web designer from San Francisco, Peter Merholz, shortened it to “blog” in April or May 1999.
The Web – the Internet Web – that webs the world – providing billions and billions and billions of bytes of information – can be a sit down education experience.
For example in looking up where “blog” came from, I noticed the phrase, “portmanteau word”. I never heard of such an expression. Here was another word to look up. This time I went the old fashioned way. I reached for my dictionary. Yes, people still do that, I found out that a “portmanteau” is a leather suitcase or valise that has two sections when opened. It’s handy, because one can put “stuff” in either side. It comes from the French words “porter” to carry and “manteau” a cloak. It hit me that “portmanteau” is a portmanteau word – having two parts. So many words are blendings of sound and image in our efforts to communicate with each other. It makes the study of language very interesting. Wow. I also noticed that when reading about all this that the word “smog” is a combination of “smoke” and “fog” – just as “blog” is a combination of “web” and “log”.
Enough already! I hope the stuff in this blog is not just a lot of "mud" - a combination of mist and cloud.
Last thought: start your own "blog". It’s free.
