Dec 9, 2008
Let’s go over this again, shall we?
For the last time, because it’s amazing how many people get it wrong, even those who should know better…
| What it is | What to call it | What not to call it, because it’s wrong and you’ll just look silly |
| A collection of articles or pieces of writing, about any topic, by one or more authors, presented in reverse-chronological order and with date-based archives on the web | A blog or weblog | A blogsite |
| A single article or piece of writing contained within a blog (see above) | A post, blogpost or blog post or entry | A blog |
| A person who writes and publishes articles to the internet via the medium of a blog | A blogger or author | |
| A person who leaves comments responding to a blogpost which someone else has published on a blog | A commenter or contributor or user (or, if they don’t say anything but you know they’re there, reader) | A blogger |
Got it? Good.
I’m sorry to suddenly become the nomenclature-nazi, but when people interchange words like those above it just gets confusing. Saying “I’ve just finished a giant blog” or “I’m writing a blog about cheese” confuses the container object for the constituent part. A blog carries with it expectations or overtones of archive, pace, time, multiple postings. Blogs don’t finish. If you’re writing a blog about cheese then I expect to see lots of posts about cheese, exploring dairy products from all angles, not one entry, about Edam.
Likewise, people occasionally say “there are a lot of nice bloggers on my blog” which is nice and everything, but they have a different relationship than you to the content. You wrote it; they responded to what you wrote. You are the blogger; they are the commenter.
It’s a small distinction, but it’s important.
That is all.
This made me laugh riotously.
Mind you, an entire blog about cheese *does* sound good. Yum.
But we love Stephen Fry, so it’s OK. He’s getting old; he tries.
See also.
Can you print that out and stick it up in prominent places please?
Just finished going over this exact concept with a client. Will send him the link to this post, if you don’t mind. =)
I blame Arianna Huffington, darlinks.
Nice old skool table up there, actually put to proper use. What about using the word blog as a verb, as in, “I blogged this” and “he blogged that.” I find the verbing extremely irritating, but then again I’m old and had a web site that could have been referred to as a blog, only thank god the word had not been invented yet, thereby saving me the embarassment of using it at all. I have never warmed to it really, so it doesnt bother me that much when folks misuse it.
Thank you.
This does the fandango on my very last nerve and I do not even have a blog. The verbing is also rampant, and I could take it,if I thought it was being employed ironically ( see verbing), but I know it’s not.
abso-pissing-lutely.
Oh yes. (In German, there’s an additional way to look silly: writing about “der Blog” instead of “das Blog”. It’s particularly bad when bloggers get interviewed and the journalists “correct” it.)
You’re all quite right. Well done.
Honestly, you might as well say “I just wrote a newspaper”.
Oh, I’m going to be e-mailing that to an awful lot of our journalists over the next few months…
Am I still allowed to call it a ‘a weblog’?
Oh yes, of course! Can’t believe I forgot to mention that – though people thankfully don’t use that as a substitute for post, too.
Nice. Although I might define “if they don’t say anything but you know they’re there, reader” as a lurker. And we always hope we’ll finally write something that will make them de-lurk.
mss, you’re absolutely right, good point.
I won’t add it to the table above, if you don’t mind, because I’m trying to keep it simple and don’t want to add another row (the theory being the shorter/simpler it is, the more likely folks are to digest it), but you’re spot on.
[...] Let’s Go Over This Again, Shall We? [...]
ah, after seeing the table (but before reading your actual post) i thought that it was maybe for the benefit of your mother or other older non-internet-type relative. (i use mother as an example merely because mine is *still* using dial up and has possibly never even heard of a blog).
Absolutely – a small but important distinction! I’ve emailed this on to several people and there will be a test next time I see them!
[...] Meg Pickard Blog [...]
I have *occasionally* used the phrase “blog site”… so here’s a question for you: What would you call a website that includes a blog, but the main content and home page aren’t the blog? Just a website? That doesn’t seem to communicate that the site includes a blog component. “Website with a blog”? I guess that’s an option.
ROFLMAO as the kids USED to say. We get that all the time. People calling each other “bloggers” in our forums or comments, people sending us notes saying they want to “post a blog” when they mean they want us to write about something, and so forth. But we are honored that they are least are discovering the interwebs.