December 07, 2004

Virtual Vernacular

We know the Internet is changing society when it begins to impact the words we use, or think we shouldn’t. The biggest word of the year was obviously “blog,” which I’m sure you read was named Word of the Year for 2004 by The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. But what you might not have read are the stories behind some other popular words on the web.

Fair And Balanced - According to News Hounds, in December, 2003, Alternet, and its parent organization, the Independent Media Institute filed a cancellation Petition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office asserting that the phrase "fair and balanced" is "notoriously misdescriptive" (i.e. not accurate at all) and that Fox should not be allowed to retain it as a trademark.

Master/Slave - According to Reuters, the computer term "master/slave," which was banned as racially offensive by a Los Angeles County purchasing department, was named the most politically incorrect term of the year on Thursday.

Monkeyfishing - The term has entered the language as a synonym for excessive credulity on the part of a newsgathering organization taken in by a patently phony story - as in, "The New York Times printed tons of Jayson Blair's monkeyfishing before it caught him at it." This explanation and the next two were pulled from an excellent article out of the Press Herald.

Jumping The Shark - Came to mean any wildly excessive activity designed to attract attention to a person or group in a popularity tailspin. As, for example, "Aging poptart Britney Spears finally jumped the shark by marrying a high school friend for two days in Las Vegas."

Pajamahadeen - a typical blogger as a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing what he thinks. Pajamahadeen spun off "mujahadeen," a term for the Muslim holy warriors who kicked the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan (I think the words “pajama journalist” rolls off the tongue a little better, but who am I to stand in the way of progress.).

Libel - A recent article from the Dallas News reminds bloggers to watch the words they use. Bloggers are now considered publishers by most, and can be sued for libel.

Posted by Buzz Webster at December 7, 2004 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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