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New Terminology?
Let's face it--the words "blog" and "blogging" are ugly, uncleverly derived and, well, ugly. (And "weblog" isn't much better.) I personally have tried to fit in to the whole weblog civilzation and just use the terms like everybody else. But my good friend Fred, who has been prowling the Internet for longer than almost anybody I know but has yet to get involved in the weblog scene, truly dislikes the two terms.
So, today, I asked him for suggestions for alternative terminology. His suggestion for replacing "blog" is "omphalos", which I really like for three reasons. First, it sounds very elegant, unlike the clunky and guttural "blog." Second, it is the Greek word for "navel" (which is appropriate, given the enormous amount of navel-gazing that bloggers engage in). Third, he points out that the letters form an acronym for "Often Mundane Prose Heavily Aired, Lacking Obligatory Substance."
All around, I think his suggestion is excellent. Any thoughts?
May 11, 2004 | Permalink
Comments
Speaking as a woman, I really don't care for omphalos. A woman gives life to her child through the umbilical cord. Let's not connect this with the spewing of random thoughts onto the digital equivalent of paper. Blog is an ugly term, but are most blogs beautiful?
Okay, maybe I'm being too harsh. There are good blogs out there, but the net is clogged up with at least 100 average to downright pathetic blogs for each of them.
Posted by: Julie at May 12, 2004 12:37:05 PM
I hadn't considered the umbilical connotation. You're right--this would be insensitive. Fred also suggested Spew and Drool, both of which he came up with good acronym phrases for.
Posted by: Pete at May 12, 2004 12:55:49 PM
nice psychoanalytic response, Julie.
how is "omphalos" pronounced?
Posted by: Adam Robinson at May 12, 2004 12:56:22 PM
Adam, it's pronounced omm-fuh-lahs, per Webster's:
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?omphal01.wav=omphalos
Julie is my wife, by the way. I totally agree with her on this one--when I originally posted, I was only thinking of the "navel" aspect, ignoring the maternal implications of "umbilical."
Posted by: Pete at May 12, 2004 1:32:54 PM
Sadly, I think the term blog is firmly entrenched in our vocabulary. I don't see "omphalos" catching on. It doesn't sound American! ;)
Posted by: tim osgood at May 13, 2004 1:54:01 PM
I have to agree about blog (and it's derivatives) being an ugly word. web-log is so much better, although it isn't good either.
omphalos doesn't seem to be the answer, but we must continue to look...
Posted by: SR at May 15, 2004 1:17:10 PM
