Saturday, May 30, 2009

Blenglish

I was spending the last couple of nights reading blog postings and comments while traveling. (Actually I spend far too much time doing that most nights, and some of them are actually on this blog.) While comments on "Just Blowing Smoke" seem to run to smaller strings and therefore fairly normal grammar and sentence structure, the same cannot be said for many of the other sites that I normally visit. 

As I have commented before here, there seems to be a direct relationship between the length of the comment string and the likelihood that those commenting will stray beyond the confines of the King's English, that capitalization will crop up in the most unlikely of places, and that a string of mostly personal vitriol will begin to pour forth anonymously. 

Some of this is simple texting abbreviation like: IMHO (In My Humble Opinion), or my personal favorite ROTFLMAO (Rolling On The Floor, Laughing My Ass Off). Others are actually quite clever attempts to make a point through sarcastic misspelling (Mi Amigo at the "Hooda Thunkit Therapy Blog", as you could probably guess from the title, is a master of this.) Some are simply so interested in pouring forth an almost obscene level of acrimony that they forget to check spelling, grammar, or common sense and common decency. 

There are those however, that have taken this process to an almost incomprehensible level. In their honor, I too am going to take advantage of the my own limited creative abilities and use them to coin a new word: "Blenglish". Of course, this word is a combination of "Blog" (already slang for the original term web log) and the language that it occasionally makes fleeting contact with, English. It includes both the clever and not so clever screen names that anyone with access to a computer keyboard can and seems to revel in hiding behind, all of the texting abbreviations that I have to have my children explain to me, and the random form of capitalization and punctuation that becomes a greater part showing emotion and emphasis while blogging. 

It is neither a positive nor negative descriptive term, but instead is merely one that attempts to label (as we human beings do far too often) a form of behavior and a method of communication becoming more and more a part of our world. So I want you to remember this day well. Years from now when "Blenglish" is finally entered into the Merriam Webster dictionary to formally become a part of the vernacular, you can say that you were there when the word was first conceived of. 
 
... have a great weekend


13 comments:

Hooda Thunkit (Dave Zawodny) said...

Tim,

Mi Amigo!

"Others are actually quite clever attempts to make a point through sarcastic misspelling (Mi Amigo at the "Hooda Thunkit Therapy Blog", as you could probably guess from the title, is a master of this.)"Thanks for the mention and the compliment. I naturally assumed that it was intended as a compliment..., or, am I misteaken on this?


Yes, I deliberately misspell words like misteak to illustrate as well as to inform and I also use various "pet" nicknames and refuse to capital letters in their title as a matter of contempt and scorn, but I try to do my level headed best to do justice to the King's/Queen's English as a matter of course...

At least, I try to ;-)

Timothy W Higgins said...

HT,

You make the blogging language serve your purpose exceptionally well. Therefore you do justice and credit to the language that you use. I am merely trying to call attention a trend that I see, and in so doing name this trend and the new language that has resulted from it.

Hooda Thunkit (Dave Zawodny) said...

Tim,

And your post did a commendable job in doing so mi amigo ;-)

Timothy W Higgins said...

HT,

Aw shucks sir, thanks. I would love to claim altruistic motives here, but I just want credit for inventing the word when it becomes common parlance.

Roland Hansen said...

No comprendo. Yo hablo branglish.

brandy+english+lots of slurring

Y usted?

Timothy W Higgins said...

Roland,

What was that, ESPERANTO?

SoRRy, but My kEybOArd is now DoinG raNDom capitAlIZation. GreAT for KidNapPing notes, but NOT so GooD otherWISe.

Roland Hansen said...

Herr Higgins,
Das ist Esperanto nicht. Ich sprichts keine esperanto. Hier ich wird Spanisch gesproche.

How about a beer and a bump instead? Then, we can speak burpish or belchish.

Timothy W Higgins said...

Roland,

I will pass on all the potential remarks on linguists in the name of good taste. Speaking of good taste brings us back to beer.

More Guinness for my men!

Hooda Thunkit (Dave Zawodny) said...

Tim,

Methinks that our amigo Roland may have lapsed into a bit of Yiddish, if I'm not misteaken...

;-)

Judy said...

HT-You would be misteaken, that was Germanish! I on the other side of the spoken word am fluent in Pig Latin!

Timothy W Higgins said...

I don't know what to tell you folks. It's all Greek to me.

Hooda Thunkit (Dave Zawodny) said...

Judy,

I stand corrected then ;-)

(The truth be known, I'm barely fluent in English, and a rank amateur in many other languages, including the native tongue of my ancestor's Motherland; although I am studying and learning a little...)

Winky Twinky said...

LOL @ speaking burpish or belchish... pass one this way guys...