24 October 2016

Terminology

Welcome to "The Yorkshire Pudding Guide to Blogging", available in all good book shops for only £9.99. Today we will be looking at some technical blogging terms in order to avoid possible future embarrassment during late night conversations about the blogging business.

If you are sitting comfortably, then I shall  begin.
Let us first look at the term "blog". It is an abbreviation of an earlier term, namely "weblog". Twenty years ago, during  the infancy of the internet, a few intrepid users began to create online diaries or "logs". Through the passage of time these "weblogs" often transmogrified into something more interesting than dull diaries of daily happenings and in May 1999 the term "blog" was first coined.

It is an umbrella term for a collection of blogposts that are commonly composed on a regular if not daily basis. Usually a "blog" has just one author. For example "Hiawatha House" is a collection of regular blogposts composed by a charming fellow called Red who resides in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada with his wife - Micro Manager".

But now I can hear you asking - What is a "blogpost"? Okay, I will try to help.

A "blogpost" is a particular entry within a blog. It is normally dated. For example the blogpost you are presently reading is dated October 24th 2016  which is, incidentally, my thirty fifth wedding anniversary.

The important thing is not to confuse the terms "blog" and "blogpost". This is a common mistake. For example, Paul Hudson the lead weather presenter on the BBC Look North early evening local news programme will often announce that he has "made a new blog today". Of course he never has made a new blog - he has in fact "made" or posted a new blogpost. Silly fellow!

So that's it for today folks. Please remember that "blog" and "blogpost" have distinct and different meanings - just like chalk and cheese or Trump and Clinton. In the next chapter of "The Yorkshire Pudding Guide to Blogging" we will be delving even deeper into the forest of technical jargon that surrounds blogging, including "Compose", "Preview" and "Sign Out".  I bet you cannot wait.

35 comments:

  1. I shall not buy the book, I shall just wait for you to reveal all the salient facts on your daily posts.

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    1. Oops! I hadn't thought of that possibility Mrs W.

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  2. Don't forget to include "Comment" and "Label" and "Moderation" and "Blogaversary" and "Profile" and "HTML" and....

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    1. Thanks for calling by again Bob. Your visit reminds me that I should also cover "Ban". "Delete", "Censor" and "Hard Labour".

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  3. Happy Anniversary! Our 34th was yesterday. Cheers!

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    1. Well done on making it through thirty four years together Wilma!

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  4. I had no idea of the origin of the term blog. And thanks for plugging my blog. The English readership has increased. And yes I look forward to more blog info. Happy 35th anniversary.

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    1. Regarding promotion of your blog, I trust you have paid that money into my account as agreed...

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    2. Done , Sir!

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  5. The correct use of "blog" and "post" is what differentiates the bloggers from the try hards. It's also my pet peeve

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    1. We can be agitated and pedantic together Kylie!

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  6. Happy Anniversary YP and Shirley.

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    1. Thank you Libby. I bought her a gold chain with a coral pendant. 35=coral.

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  7. Happy Anniversary to you both, YP. Hope you celebrated in fine style.
    Thanks for this computer info. but I'm happy to remain confused, and just wait for the bits I can understand....

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  8. Happy Anniversary to you and Shirley!

    I often come across blogs where the authors confuse "blog" and "(blog)post", but I've given up - I point out errors and mistakes often enough and it has not exactly won me friends over the years.

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    1. People can become belligerent and awkward when one points out their errors in expression. It's as if one is criticising their very existence.

      As an English teacher I spent many, many, many hours marking pupils' written work in my own time. Once a horrible girl I taught went through her entire exercise book making nasty little comments about all my amendments, corrections and suggestions. It made my blood boil but her dumb parents couldn't grasp the unacceptable audacity of this behaviour. A few years later the father ended up in prison for grievous bodily harm following a domestic incident.

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  9. Happy Anniversary! It was my 40th this year, though sadly hubby was not here to celebrate it with me. Look forward to the next installment of bloggery.....

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    1. Bloggery sounds disgusting ADDY!

      Sorry your husband missed your 40th. He might have bought you a ruby ring.

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    2. We've just celebrated our 50th (I was a child bride of course !!).

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    3. 50th? Wow! Now I have to alter my mental image of you CG! Previously, you were a twenty seven year old disco "girl" with a soft top MG and long hair blowing backwards on your way to the Badminton horse trials.

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    4. A ruby ring would have been nice, but even nicer if he were still alive to be with me :(

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    5. That would be better than a thousand ruby rings.

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  10. Was this really just an INCREDIBLY roundabout way of telling us it's your anniversary? :)

    (Oh, and happy anniversary!)

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    1. That piece of information just slipped out. It wasn't the prime purpose. I am not that devious.

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  11. Based on what I read today about a 17-year-old bicyclist in Sheffield who was left to fend for himself after being injured by an unbelievably unconcerned driver, perhaps you should also explain "do unto others," "Good Samaritan," and "common human decency."

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    1. I have no knowledge of the tragic event you alluded to but I swear it wasn't me your honour!

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  12. Good post on blogging.

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    1. You are a man of discerning good taste Treey!

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  13. Hmmmmmm....very interesting, Dr. Watson...very interesting, indeed!

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    1. Is there something you are not saying Sherlock?

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  14. Thirty five years. Well done youse two - that's how we talk here in this wonderful Southland.
    And will there be a blog test at the end of the tutorial Sir?

    Alphie

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    1. Yes there will be you cheeky girl and if you don't achieve that pass mark you will need to see me for private revision sessions.

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  15. The use of words was a large part of my professional life. I strove to achieve good grammar (is that a tautology or a pleonasm or neither?). I now accept that sometimes life is just too short to worry about such things. Of course when the meaning of what is written is unclear the writer must take the consequences if there are any.

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    1. Of course nearly all my working life was about words and their use. I could never adopt an attitude that had a devil-may-care approach to grammar and expression. Life is too short for that.

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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