chennaicentral

Thennavan turns lexicographer!

I decided on creating a dictionary-like post, but purely on blog-terms and their usage. You may not have heard or seen many of these words, but that is because they are a result of my coinage (before I even Googled each one and found that many had references in a different context on the web) or a result of my giving a different twist to an existing term. Of course, the inspiration for this post came from a couple of recent posts on Anti's blog.

You may want to bookmark this post, for who knows when it will come in handy :-). Also the format will be like that of a standard dictionary with notations for nouns (n) and verbs (v), with my "rather different" approach :-) to the "usage" feature. Again, time for disclaimer (and none of the terms are coined with anyone in mind although some people may qualify for some of these terms :-)) and this time it is a "thennavan" style disclaimer :-)

It's all for fun, coz
I love to pun, and
Offences none, so
Drop your gun :-)

The first word actually started off a round of comments in Anti's blog and it also became controversial. So, I'll start with that and it has also got a Wiki mention under blog (just go towards the end of the page where you see Common Terms).

Blogsnob - n; A person who refuses to respond to comments on their blog from people outside their circle of friends. Usage: X is a blogsnob, so if you want a reply from him and if his commenting system allows you to "pose & post" as his friend, then fool him by all means, but take care to imitate the commenting style of his friend :-)

Blogsob - v; the act of blogsobbing. A blogger who cries all the time that he/she is not able to attract the kind of traffic that they would like. Usage: Y blogsobs so much about the lack of visitors on her site, that her tears could bring relief to Chennai's annual summer heat :-)

Blogslob - n; A very coarse and obnoxious blogger. Usage: X is such a blogslob that you could take him thru an Oxford education and Oxford folks would then think it is perfectly normal to use swear-words in standard writing :-)

Blogslog - v; the act of blogslogging. Usage: Z blogslogs to come out with post after post of profound wisdom and all he gets is a handful of comments. So, he has decided to shift his focus and will henceforth blogslog on what some of the popular actresses (and actors) eat daily and will give a minute-by-minute account of the calories they consume on a daily basis :-)

Bloglog - n; A blogger who is lazy as a log, who does not update his/her blog and does not respond to any comments from visitors as to why he/she has not blogged for a long time. Usage: No point waiting for a response from this bloglog. You may be better off talking to even a blob :-)

Blogclog - n; A "writer's block" equivalent of the blog world, to experience a blogclog. Usage: Y enthusiastically started to write but suddenly developed symptoms of blogclog and was rushed to the "we-will-get-your-creative-juices-flowing-again" hospital :-)

Blogflog - v; the act of blogflogging. Whenever a blogger harps on a point and does not seem to move on from there, he is said to be blogflogging. Usage: X is a blogger who blogflogs to death his point on why not allow penguins to mate with kangaroos so that an all-weather species can be created and whose DNA can be analyzed to see if humans can also be made weather-proof :-)

Blogfog/Blogfag (can be used interchangeably) - n; the mental cloud or brain-fag that overcomes a blogger who blogs excessively (the opposite of the blogclog blogger). Usage: At the rate in which Z is blogging, he is bound to have blogfog and so surgeons have recommended that he periodically get his head opened so that some anti-fog solution can be poured inside :-)

Blogfrog - n; a blogger who leaps before he looks. Usage: X is a blogfrog who is so quick on the trigger that many a time his posts are blank because he has hit the PUBLISH POST button as soon as he had launched his CREATE A NEW POST page :-)

Bloghog - n; this is the blogger who likes to steal the limelight of someone, "hog" all the attention. Usage: X is a bloghog to such an extent that if a female blogged that she was pregnant, he would still go ahead and claim credit for it on his blog :-)

Blogdog - n; a blogger who is faithful to those in his circle. Usage: You can always count on him to click YES everytime he visits your blog's snap-poll on "Will the President of America and I eat from the same plate?" He is after all your blogdog :-)

Blogjog - v; the act of blogjogging or going on a tour from blog to blog. Usage: Y suffered from such an extreme case of blogjogging, that even when she slept in whatever little time she allocated to herself for sleep, her fingers were constantly clicking something in the air :-)

Blogcog - n; a blogger who believes he is just a cog in a wheel. Usage: Being a steadfast blogcog, X wondered why people should come in different shapes and sizes. He figured that if God had cut people to a uniform size when creating, the world could have better reaped the economies of scale by this standardization :-)

Blogrob - v; the act of blogrobbing or stealing someone's blog ideas. Usage: Someone had impressed upon X that in the blogging world, one can do whatever one wants, but has to give credit where it is due. So even while blogrobbing ideas, designs and sentences from another site, X always gave credit this way "thanks to So and So, from whom this post has been robbed" :-)

Bloghobnob - v; the act of bloghobnobbing or being seen in the blogs of the right people in the blogosphere. Usage: Z tried his best to bloghobnob with the glitterati of the blog world but no one would blogroll him. So he figured that he could still be the talking point of the online world by doing something different and so he hacked into the Interpol site and put himself on top of the "Most Wanted Criminals" list (replete with his picture and contact info) :-)

Blogmob - n; a service designed to puff up the ego of a new blogger by having a mob of online surfers (who are paid for this) suddenly descend on a blog and comment effusively about the blogger, thereby temporarily boosting traffic. Usage: X is a millionaire now after contracting with an agency that does blogmobbing. While there was a sudden spike in traffic and comments on his site for many months due to hiring this service, yet he felt depressed. Do you want to know why? Well, he was a billionaire before he started blogging :-)

Hope you enjoyed this weekend humor too. Well, you may start seeing these terms more and more in the blogosphere, and (like the Jensen & Nicholson ad "Whenever you see color, think of us") hope you will also remember me when you come across any of these terms and being my fans and loyalists, hope you will also come to my rescue if these ideas of mine are blogrobbed by somebody claiming them to be their own. I don't know if by this post, I will also join the BlogWood (like Bollywood, Hollywood, Kollywood etc.) "Hall of Fame", but if there is such an entity and I do get to adorn its walls at some point in the future, I shall certainly remember that you were all my BlogDogs who helped me get there :-)

Update 4: Thanks to Ramya Kannan, one of the most visible faces of THE HINDU and herself a popular blogger, ChennaiCentral and Indibloggers have been mentioned in today's magazine section of India's National Newspaper. I am deeply honored by this recognition. Once again, I thank you Ramya.

Update 3: DesiPundit has also made a reference to this post.

Update 2: Thanks Amit, for linking to this post. (For those who haven't heard of him) Amit Varma is one of the top Indibloggers. Amit shot into blogging fame with his live Tsunami aftermath coverage in his IndiaUncut blog and he is also the creator and co-author of another blog - The Middle Stage. Earlier webbers know his articles from the CricInfo site.

Update 1: In the past people have asked me how long it takes to write my weekend posts. Considering that even my weekday posts take a fair amount of time (sometimes up to an hour), my weekend posts always take anywhere from four to six hours to ideate, write and make small changes even after publishing, to get the final product the way I want it to appear. Actually, the idea portion is the easiest and only a small spark (like in the case of this one) is enough. It is only the writing that gets tedious and again a little time is taken in fine-tuning at the end. Some people question the wisdom of lengthy posts and some people heap praises for the dedication and the thinking that goes behind each. Rather than just say "to each, his/her own", my response is: "I never felt that any of my posts were more or less. They just felt about right in what I wanted to convey and the theme was more important in my mind than the size". After all, Mark Twain has noted: "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." :-)

posted by thennavan @ 5:52 PM