I was listening to Focus 580 on WILL yesterday for a few minutes. The guest was Dennis Baron, head of the English Department at the University of Illinois. He was talking about Words of the Year. His choice was "roadside bomb." He said that someone else had said that "blog" was their word of the year. A few minutes later a woman with an elderly-sounding crackle in her voice called the show and asked, "What is that word, blog? I've never heard it used before." The guest went on to explain how the phrase "web log" merged into "blog." He even spelled it for her. It made me chuckle.
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[Imported comment* originally authored by renice.] Poor thing -- but poor us too, because, according to an article in yesterday's NY Times, we are in the minority -- only 38 percent of Americans know what "blog" means:
Bloggers were selected as "People of the Year" by ABC News, and Merriam-Webster declared "blog" its "word of the year." According to a study released yesterday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, more than eight million Americans have started blogs, and 27 percent of Internet users surveyed said they read blogs - a 58 percent jump since last February - and 12 percent of Internet users have posted comments to blogs. Still, 62 percent of Americans say they are not sure what the term "blog" means.
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