Are you sitting down…? Mark is blogging!!



“Welcome,” said my elder daughter recently, “to the twenty-first century.”

Her remark was occasioned by my discovery of the meanings of ‘blog’ and ‘blogging’. Those words had hitherto been as inscrutable to me as ‘sooterkin’ and ‘cablish’ – but, as it transpires, they’re easier to incorporate into a modern English sentence (if it’s to have a fighting chance of being understood).

However, the details of my discovery were disheartening: blogging means WRITING SOMETHING ABOUT WHAT I’M DOING. “I don’t like the twenty-first century,” I told my daughter. “I want to go home.” Her comments about the mental deterioration characteristic of geriatric old coots are unworthy of repetition, but they goaded me into asserting that I CAN DO IT. I CAN become a blogger.

But… Is ‘blogger’ a word? Should it more properly be bloggist, or blogwright, or bloggitor? Whatever the correct form, what’s the formal definition – one who blogs, or one who writes blogs? That must depend on whether ‘to blog’ is a verb in modern English, as the ostensibly present-participle form implies, or whether ‘blog’ is firmly and immovably a noun. Will someone please enlighten me?

Obviously I need lessons. Nevertheless, here I am, blogging. Or bloggizing. Or bloggineering. Or whatever it’s officially called.

21 Comments

  • Is it Blogi?

    The key to successful blogging is the ability to blog every single day, which is why my own poor attempts at being a blogess has been doomed.

    One day perhaps when I am very, very old but can still remember who I am, I may have time to ponder, mull, think profound thoughts.

    Sadly my blog goes, ‘ Oh Bloggett! Phone, sorry have to dash, maybe tomorrow!’

    I love the new site, it smooth, suave, sophisticated, just like it’s Bloggist 🙂

    • Daily addition to the European blog mountain sounds too tall an order for me; weekly, perhaps…

      Thanks for leaving a comment and making me smile!

    • Facebook

      I hate to say this but I think having an FB page would be good for book sales!

      🙂

  • Like certain other four-letter words of Anglo-Saxon origin Mark, “blog” is a very versatile word that can be used as a noun, verb, turned into an adjective, used for emphatic purposes and so on. It can even be a euphemism for certain other words!

    Congratulations on your brand new site and welcome to the 21st century. There’s no way back home I am afraid. I can foresee you joining Facebook next!

    • Ah, Boris, the very thought of Facebook fills me with horror and loathing. I tried staying with it for a few weeks but then my stamina was overwhelmed and I legged it. Wild horses wouldn’t drag me back to Facebook. Wild tortoises might, but only very slowly.

      That said, I fear you’re right and I’ll have to face the 21st century as though I belonged in it (as opposed to the 18th, which should probably have been my era). But your linguistic observations, and implicit analogy with other words of similar length from the same philological background, have done much to enhance my understanding of ‘blog’.

      Thanks for the comment!

  • Henry Moon Fortune 23.10.2013 - 01:20am

    I too am not happy with the twenty-first century. But I like your website, Mark, it looks awesome.

    • Thanks, Henry! I’m going to have fun with this site, irrespective of satisfaction with the 21st century. I hope all’s well with you!

  • It’s a lovely website, Mark. As always, your unique sense of humor and wit make for an enjoyable read, Nice blog, and a large hurray to the webmaster/mistress.

    • Thanks, Charlotte! Just having the link to ‘Fenella’ on the site is a way of advertizing GPS, and I hope it might give you a few more hits… But hasn’t Dana done an amazing job in building this site?

  • Anne Mulkeen Murray 23.10.2013 - 14:42pm

    Hi Mark, Your website is great. I want to read more of your books. Thanks for the promotion of the Buxton Storytelling Group.
    Best wishes, Anne

    • Thanks, Anne! It’s a pleasure to promote the Buxton group because it’s so enjoyable (and Scrivener’s is a wonderfully atmospheric setting). I’m delighted you share my opinion of the new website. I think Dana’s done an amazing job with it!

  • Mishka Zakharin 23.10.2013 - 21:04pm

    I vote for “blogwright”… if only because it sounds like some kind of ghoulish swamp creature. (Sorry! That would be “bog-wight” wouldn’t it? Hob nob…) And I’m also on board with the not fond of the 21st century (though I suspect it’s one of those “grass is always greener” kinds of a deal.)

    The really nice thing about bloggery is… if you read through your rough draft, and you decide it isn’t after all really very good, you can always use it for cablish–which might, in turn, help to keep at bay the sooterkin?

    But the new site looks awesome! Kudos to you and your designer!! And continued success with all your writery doings!~

    • Many thanks again, Mishka, and continued success to you as well!

      How typical of you to interpret ‘blogwright’ as ghoulish swamp creature. I always thought that was a ‘blogwight’ – or, as you perceptively observe, a ‘bogwight’, issuing in all its slimy glory from the grimpen mire and upsetting nocturnal travellers.

      But it might keep the sooterkin at bay.

  • I hear you are creating a compilation of convoluted puns! I’m waiting with baited breath! (Anchovies, I believe.) 🙂

    • Indeed yes, Mari! Some of the convoluted puns will already be familiar to you from the items I posted on Mind’s Eye and elsewhere, but I’ve added to the collection. A few more pieces (once inspiration afflicts me) and I’ll consider the best way of putting the anthology into the public domain…

      The novel has now been sent to the literary consultant, as my most recent blog reveals!

  • Nice blog, Mark and welcome to the 21st century. Not to worry, the way everything is going, it won’t last long.

    • Yep, it looks that way – not least in Europe, where economic woes continue… They say Brazil is the economy of the future, but I believe it always will be.

  • Welcome, indeed! I try my wheels on the highways of the 21st Century and generally find I must retreat for lengthy sabbaticals to the more primitive roads in order to preserve my delicate sanity.

    Lovely site you have here!

    Happy bloggerisationing.

    Shai Adair

    • Yes, Shai, I’m really pleased with the site! So pleased I’ve even blogged again to announce the completion of the novel and the dispatch of the manuscript to the literary consultant’s lair…

      Alas, the 21st century is all around us. I’ve put in an official complaint but no one seems willing to get rid of it.

  • Oh dear friend, I too am just crossing over into the 21st century. If you recall, I have only been using a computer for since 2006 and had never even heard of blogging before then. I’ve always been a bit leery of new things. I’m stubborn like that. But I must admit I am grateful to my brother for introducing me to this modern technology for not only have I met some of the most amazing people and developed friendships I pray live forever (present company included), but I have also learned SO much!

    I know you don’t like FB, but I agree with your friend Tess; Facebook is a great place for exposure. Perhaps if you want to promote there you could have someone you trust do it for you? Create a page and promote your site and books.

    Your site is smooth, sharp, and fitting of a gentleman in style. Congratulations, sweet man.

    • Well, Tammy, the congratulations are all due to Dana – the site is her work entirely. She’s an amazing lady.

      I’d have no objection to other people mentioning my books (or my website!) on Facebook; but my own experience of it, and of one other social networking site, was so negative and unsettling that I’d be extremely reluctant to expose myself to it again. (Though Tess is a wise and admirable person and I’d normally consider her advice seriously, as I would yours.)

      xx

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