Like any business/profession, blogging has a language of it’s own.
An article or story, is considered a post.
Amenities that are added onto a blog to make it perform better, are called addons, widgets or plugins.
You read about robots, crawlers, and spiders. The list goes on. Many of the words won’t be found in a dictionary.
Today’s Lesson
A response to a comment by Jennifer (Principles for Peace), inspired me to make up a blogging term.
Jennifer commented that she is never at a loss for blogging topics. I call that “blog security” (derived from job security).
I’ve also used the term blogger’s (writer’s) “blogk”. I can’t take the credit for making up the word. After I used it, I searched and others use it too.
Kelly of ShePower used the term “delurking” in a comment. She questioned whether it was a word or not. I believe it is, and even wrote a definition.
“De-lurking” – the act of exposing oneself after an undetermined amount of time. Often used to describe a blogger who reads another author’s writings but hasn’t commented on, or communicated with the author to make them aware they’ve been read. Not to be confused with “stalking”.
Dr. Nicole loves to make up new words, too. Did you read her post titled: Mcinflammation, Are You Really Loving It?
She went on to say:
I am always making up new words, they say it is an early warning sign of schizophrenia, but it hasn’t quite caught up to me yet!
I hope she was joking. LOL
When we start blogging, it’s often the new vocabulary that can cause headaches. Learning it takes time.
Today’s Assignment
Does the blogging language get you confused?
Which words are the hardest for you to wrap your head around?
Do you ever make up words?
Photo Credit: Southernpixel’s photostream
Hi J.D.
I have to agree on trackbacks and pingbacks. They’ve confused me from day one, and I still haven’t figured out the difference.
Holy McCow…LOL
Hi Dr. Nicole,
Are you getting paranoid?
I’m disappointed you didn’t share more “new words” with us. Hope to see you back with a few more. 😆
Trackback and pingback — hands down.
Holy McCow! — If making up new words is an early sign of schizophrenia, I think Ronald McDonald and the Smurfs are in trouble.
J.D. Meiers last blog post..How Much Profitability Do You Need?
Oh my gosh! I have been laughing so hard with this I couldn’t even type a comment! Wow…
Who knew you were lurking my comment section?
I feel like people are watching me now! LOL
Yet another warning sign…
Dr. Nicoles last blog post..How Well Do You Handle Criticism?
I found a list of blogging terms months back,but one word I still spell wrong is blogsphere. What happened to the O – blogosphere. Duh. No one told me and I didn’t pay attention.
Yeah I made up a word. Blogo = Blog Logo?
Naturals last blog post..The Good, The Bad, The Ugly and By the Way
I didn’t know what “burning a feed” meant at one point, and I still don’t know why they call it that. Lately I’ve been hearing the phrase “made for AdSense” and I don’t know what that means.
Hunter Nuttalls last blog post..How To Be A Woman
I don’t see why new words need to be invented for blogging. There are terms that simply don’t need a new word.
I think blogging is quite similar to writing a newspaper column. People can comment on columns in letters to the editor. Blogs allow comments too. Of course, not everyone who reads something feels the need to comment on it. Why do we need a term for these people when it comes to blogging? Do we really need to label them “lurkers?” I don’t think so. They are readers. We would never call a newspaper subscriber a “lurker” because he didn’t write an editorial comment would we?
Just like newspapers, we can have subscribers, readers, and contributors. Isn’t that good enough?
Chase Marchs last blog post..A Marshmallow Term
That’s the beauty of blogging. You can do what you want. I think making up new words is great. It helps you stand out and helps you create a voice. People will likelly remember words you make up if they are good – and that helps give you a name. Hmmmm…… What word can I go make up? 🙂
I laughed out loud yesterday when I read your response to my comment. I love it! “blog security!” Thanks for the link.
Yes, if anyone would like to explain to me trackbacks and pingback and how to use them I would be grateful. I know that one of them happens automatically when I link to someone’s wordpress blog.
Jennifers last blog post..Help!! I’m in Too Deep and I Need Out!
Until I read these comments I hadn’t heard of trackbacks and pingbacks. There are many words I’m learning but there are still many I don’t understand. I know what a widget is now!
I can only think of one word I have created: Abilitize. It’s not necessarily for blogging but I would never have created it if it wasn’t for my blog.
Debbie Yosts last blog post..How Much is Your Time Worth
Hi Natural,
I think a lot of times we do make typos, but others don’t want to correct us, plus with the word blogosphere, others probably know what you mean, so just disregard it.
Blogo – that’s creative 🙂
Hi Hunter,
I forgot about “burning a feed”, It had me shaking my head for quite some time, too.
I’ve heard “made for AdSense” with regard to themes and have uploaded themes made for AdSense. If I remember right, the AdSense ads automatically show up on the new theme (provided you have an AdSense account). You just have to check to make sure your account number is correct in the coding.
Hi Jennifer.
With blogs being our own, we can do what we want with them, and that does make them individual. However, if we go too far, we could very easily lose readership if what we write goes over our reader’s heads, or becomes offensive.
I’m hoping someone will come by and give us all a good definition for the difference between trackback and pingback.
Hi Chase,
You’re correct about not needing new words. Learning blogging would have been a lot simpler for me had things been labeled in a manner I could have easily understood. But on the other hand, in nearly every industry, I see this happening, and then I hear some people “talking in the industry language” thinking they are impressing people with their “big words”.
Re: the term “lurkers”, I think that has been derived from the discovery of online predators and/or perverts who travel around cyberspace looking for unsuspecting individuals or pictures. Because they can engage in this activity anonymously they are seen as “lurking”. The term has drifted into the blogging community even though, like you say, those who come to our blogs are usually new or loyal readers. (This brings up another issue that probably deserves a post, e.g. people who read our blogs in an attempt to gather incriminating information)
And no, it is not necessary to comment on blogs just because we read them. I know I always don’t.
Hi Debbie,
I remember seeing “abilitize” on your blog when you did a post about Down syndrome. That was a great article.
Re: commenting. I don’t think it’s necessary to comment on a blog unless you have something of value to add to a post (and you have the time to share), to say thank you for a link, and/or to show your loyalty to the author.
I’ll add this subject to my drafts and go a little further with it. Thank you for the suggestion.
Hi Mark,
It is very time consuming to understand it all. With every new social media site we join, comes new language.
Will it ever end? I doubt it.
Since I was writing my comment at the same time Chase was I didn’t see it. I love what he said. I don’t get a lot of comments sometimes, but I still have visitors and that’s ok. The pressure to comment on so many blogs can be tiresome. It would be nice if attitutes changed so we welcomed readers without putting unfair pressure on those who don’t want to mess with commenting. Hmm, maybe there is a post in here.
Debbie Yosts last blog post..How Much is Your Time Worth
Hi Barbara,
I couldn’t believe how long it took to learn basic blogging vocabulary. It just goes on and on. And all the social media lingo – you can spend hours figuring out what Uttertz is, or Delicious, or Digg, etc. Does it ever end?
I’m still trying to wrap my head around “widget”. Even though I know what it is. Kinda.
This post is funny indeed. The lurking part in particular. Whoa!
Mark – Creative Journey Cafes last blog post..How to Make Something Undeniably Good
Hi Chris,
I hear you!
I’m with J.D. Meir on this one. It’s the technical side of blogging that gets me.
Chriss last blog post..Justice vs. Mercy: Which Side Are You On?
Hi Catherine,
That sounds like me when I started blogging. I was completely lost. It took tons of research and experimentation before I could grasp what words/techniques meant.
Hi Barbara – I don’t usually make up words but I have struggled to understand the meaning of some blogging terms. It wasn’t until recently that I grasped what a widget was. It’s difficult reading everywhere that you need something if you don’t have a clue what it is, or what it does.
Cath Lawsons last blog post..Is StumbleUpon Going Down The Tubes?
Hi Barbara
I realize I’m late to the party, but that’s me lately. Busy. Busy. Busy. I still have no idea what trackbacks and pingbacks are and “No follow” links – huh?
In fact, I still feel like I’m a writer more than a blogger because I don’t understand so many technical things (even though I have managed to change my site quite a bit by myself so obviously I’ve learned SOMETHING) and I don’t pay attention to stats or niches or try to cater to a particular audience. I seem to find blogging a most satisfying journey when I meander along in my own fashion, blathering onto to hopefully someone and making things up as I go along. This means that though I have a twitter account I still don’t understand exactly why and from what I see that has a whole language all its own too. And I think it took 4 months of hearing about StumbleUpon before I even understood what it was. Now I love a good “stumble”, though now I know there’s all these other things like Mixx and propeller and I don’t get what they are and why there are so many.
In fact, maybe I should stop talking about all the things I don’t understand before everyone decides I am a complete idiot. Signing off and crawling back to my blog-hole.
Thanks for the link love.
Kelly
Kelly@SHE-POWERs last blog post..Runny Eggs, Feminism and the Drunken Bride
Hi Kelly,
Isn’t it amazing how each social network has it’s own micro language? As we enter into blogosphere, some of us are so overwhelmed, and then are told social networking is a necessity, too. However, we’re not warned that social networking will only add more to our already confused state.
Mixx and Propeller? Those are new to me.
You’re welcome for the link love.
BTW: I loved your Mother’s Day post. Your “sunshine” tips were fabulous.