or, logia insipiens
It was suggested to me rather strongly by my publisher and several other influentials, including my helpmate of many years, that instigating a blog would be a wise and appropriate step to take given my recent burst on to the public stage via introduction of a new book entitled It Always Rains on Wednesday. I say new, which is accurate, yet misleading. The book is a first, of which I hope will become a trilogy. But, we need not go into that right now.
My initial concern in commencing a blog was reasonably simple; definition. What exactly is a blog? Am I taking on a new set of delineated responsibilities? To whom do I answer? File reports? Is there an instruction manual? We use and hear words all the time without knowing their precise meanings, yet that fact doesn’t seem to deter us from the practice thereof, risking, as it were, embarrassment and/or more enlightened, snide correction from friends or family. I’m thinking particularly, in this case, of teenagers or even pre-teens.
Wanting a legitimate definition, I sought out and consulted three dictionaries, of which I had great confidence, by reputation, constant reliability, and weight. The diminutive four letter word was not to be found; nonvisible between blocky and bloke, where it should have been. Offhand, my brain, drifting as that mass often does into some realm of obscurity, rather lightly came up with the idea of an excellent term to describe an obstruction in pipes or drains, calling one to remembrance of a hapless search for a plugger once rumored to be somewhere within our house or garage, now only a device of phantom memory and vague description, and sometimes, in less mature days, placed atop one’s head at parties while dancing after imbibing healthy amounts of punch. On further reflection, I realized the ancient term clog—not the clunky shoes, obviously, of the same name—was what I had in mind, which, in even more intense reflection, could be put to good use as a rhyme if writing snippets of poetry—thinking now of Sandburg et al—including fog, bog, log and so on. But very little use, it seemed, with blog.
This particular ignorance of definition relating to a term becoming fairly well-worn in current society is just another example verifying the fact that I am not, and never have been, a man of the twentieth century. Excuse me again. The twenty-first century. It seems my mind and conventions are rooted more in the nineteenth, or earlier. What this says about me is unclear in the current sense. In a more global sense it suggests my feet are often firmly planted in a world which has long past spun away and left me with orientations of delusion and discordance. Out of date and touch, yet not without hope. More on that later.
Still, moving along with the idea at hand, most people of my age. . .my, uh, generation, have discovered a sure-fire way of digging up accurate and intelligent information on modern terms deemed esoteric or obscure, often meaning anything currently in daily usage by ninety-nine percent of the population. Just about the same percentage who can readily identify by name the top ten recording artists, Hollywood stars and latest block buster movies, of which, if pressed, in threat of annihilation, I could name none.
Grandchildren are the answer, of course! Or, lacking these blessings, someone like that little neighborhood kid down the street whose nose is always running, chocolate smears perennially encrusted around his mouth, regularly interrupting my afternoon naps. Wealth’s of knowledge, these little people are! God’s gift to the elderly uninformed. Readily willing to share. Though often with disappointed faces in discovering their student’s lack of presumed savior faire.
So, the term blog, I was told by an eight year old politely trying to keep a straight face, is the formation of one word from two: web and log. Made a lot of sense actually, after she patiently explained it a few times. Whether individual blogs like this one make any sense is another matter. Only the future will tell. Looking forward to it. And hope you’ll join me on a regular basis.
R. Douglas