It’s A Word Thing

Can We Have A Word?

Blog is a word. As in, “I am blogging” or “I have blogged.”

No one seems to know its true etymology. But it may derive from the Latin, “blogitas” meaning, “to blog.” But maybe not. 

Others Perspectives

Actually, we do know some things. Jorn Barger is credited for first using the “blog” word, on December 17, 1997. What he actually used was, “weblog.” Then Peter Merholz shortened it to just “blog ” back in April or May, 1999. And so we have it, BLOG, thanks fellas. 

An Interesting Question

What does the word “blog” actually mean? Basically, “blog” is an abbreviation for “web-log online diary.” As in keeping a diary, or a journal, online, on the world-wide-web. So 7,000,000,000 can potentially see it.

There are lots of blogs to read. One source puts the number of blogs at 152,000,000. It’s hard to determine since many bloggers abandon their blog within days or weeks. One source estimates there are 1.4 million blog posts per day. Make that 1,400,001 per day.

However, none of this is particularly interesting. 

A More Interesting Question

The question needing to be answered is this, why do people blog?  Or even, why do I blog? Some possible answers, though possibly uninteresting, are as follows:

1. To inform 
2. To entertain
3. To think out loud
4. To inspire
5. To fill up my day

Perhaps there are others: 

1. To share my odd sense of humor
2. To be sarcastic and snarky 
3. To share deep insights about life
4. To share insignificant observations about life
5. To fill up my day

Here Is An Even More Interesting Question

The most interesting question of all is this one: Why do people read blogs? This is particularly apropos since you are reading my blog at this very moment. Why are you reading this? Why would anyone read it? Here are some possible reasons:

1. To fill up your day
2. To give deeper meaning to your life
3. Because it is there  
4. Because your are fascinated with the word “blog” 
5. To ascertain if you yourself should become a blogger

Well, I could go on discussing the word blog all day long. But alas, tomorrow is Saturday and I’m committed to blogging something important, substantial, and world-changing. So I need to spend the rest of my day thinking about what that could be. 

In Closing

Thanks for reading my blog. I hope it has meant as much to you as it has to me.

Stay cool.