Sphinn Home » Water Cooler
Avatar Went Hot: February 14, 2008 - 4:35 pm
Posted By: aimClear 195 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://www.seomoz.org)
Category: Water Cooler
Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon Badu,Lulu, Bebo, Wufoo, Monster are MADE UP words. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with making up new words for something that...can't be properly named or described with existing language." Cute post.
14 Comments     

Comments

from planetc1 195 days ago #
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Like "Sphinnerinctum" - A Sphinn community member loaded with energy and ambition. :)

from MiriamEllis 195 days ago #
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I found this post to be extremely entertaining! I just left a comment on another sphunn post that relates to what Jane is saying, in a way.

Danny Sullivan says "Social Media is messy."

Barry Welford, an English gentleman living in Canada says, "Social Media ARE messy."

At Cre8asite, most of the members talk about 'forums'.

But our Australian neighbors say, correctly, 'fora'.

Language is endlessly fascinating, and even within the many dialects of English, there is a never-ending supply of interesting differences.

from bwelford 195 days ago #
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As a word junky, I found that post one of the best.  As I commented at SEOmoz, as far as that Yahoo! name goes, my article, SWOT That Company Name, does quite an examination of just how good or bad that is.

from willcritchlow 195 days ago #
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"social media are messy" love it :)

from bwelford 195 days ago #
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BTW Miriam, thanks for the compliment!  Actually I believe you've got to go with the crowd.  Fora is correct since Forum is a Latin word originally.  However you possibly lose some people if you use the correct version.  Medium is also probably Latin, I assume, with its plural, Media.  However here Medium gets you into a whole different world.

from Lyndon 195 days ago #
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Can I just do the pedant thing and point out that all words are made up, I mean it's not like they were found under a rock or anything.

from janecopland 195 days ago #
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@ Lyndon: I probably did a crap job trying to say something similar, but I sort of attempted to by saying that, in regards to making up words, "Quite simply, this is how languages evolve and grow, and it would be next to impossible to name everything with words that already exist."

One of my favourite examples of this is the word "computer." While it could have been used before what we now call "computers" existed to describe "one who computes", it's a relatively new word in its current form. Of course, there's also "Internet", which is an interesting linguistic compilation as well. It's amusing when people don't know what an intranet is: this misunderstanding somewhat shows how the logic behind naming the "Internet" has been lost on everyone. This is probably due to the fact that it has solidified itself in our lexicon.

My favourite new word of the week? Desphinn :) Which, of course, has spawned Desphunn, desphinning and may produce undesphinn if we're ever able to do that. As a new word, depshinn is doubleplusgood.

Now we play, "guess what Jane studied at college."

from Lyndon 195 days ago #
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My favourite is "bubble", conjured up from the Bard himself. It seems weird doesn't it, one day the word does not exist, the next day it does. Meanings change also. "Gay", for example.

I despair when people bang on about new words coming on the scene or meanings changing as if it's the end of the world.

The English langauge is a rich, living thing, and the Internet has already given us "to google" along with many others.

from janecopland 195 days ago #
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Yep, I'm all for the invention of new words... I always like it when some effort has gone into the coinage, of course, which is why I expressed not liking Badoo as a name, but appreciating MySpace.

I remember being told off once for using "email" as verb! A teacher said to me, "No, Jane, you send an email." Well, maybe you did in 2000. If you buy into the idea (like I do) that usage plays a huge part in defining the rules of a language, it's now perfectly correct to utilise "to email."


I wonder what that teacher now makes of "I Twittered", etc. Admittedly, I still haven't come to terms with "Facebook" being used as a verb. I'm over the age of 14 so I still say, "I sent him a message on Facebook!"

from aimClear 195 days ago #
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Bringlesnat bosh brinder! Singlesnop borland mustiland. Newbarg swert blagamat. Yay Yay Yay, tormano sputwen.

from ChristianBk 195 days ago #
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I approve of this thworping Sphinn post..

from organicapex 195 days ago #
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"Social Media Are Messy" - If your in a gazillion places at a time.

"Social Media aint Messy" - If you are in the places where you have to be.

We all have to be here in Sphinn being Internet Marketers, and obviously Sphinn is Social Media.

Does that make sense?

from aimClear 195 days ago #
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@organicapex: ummm what the hell are you talking about?

from organicapex 194 days ago #
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@aimClear,

I wish i knew..

Its all about making up words and jargons isnt it?


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