Jon22: The Website of Jonathan Dobres

When I first purchased this domain name, the header referred to the site as a “weblog.” A few months ago I changed it to “website.” I’m not sure what possessed me to call this site a weblog in the first place. I’ve always hated the word and all its permutations.

Blog. Let’s address the shear ugliness of the word. One syllable, ending in a “G.” It sounds wet and tired. It sounds like a noise I’d make after eating something with an unusually high fiber content. Rhymes with bog, smog, log, fog, frog, and virtually nothing pleasant. It is possibly one of the clumsiest words of recent invention, and I hate hearing it spurt awkwardly out of media pundits’ throats two dozen times a day.

Please, someone define the word “blog” for me. What, exactly do people mean when they say that? Don’t even try to go Dictionary.com on me. The word has only been in popular use for about six years, and you really shouldn’t need a dictionary to define it, especially if you’re reading this. In the internet days of yore (pre-2000), I’m fairly certain that “weblog” referred specifically to a website that include a list of links to other places, usually listed in the order in which they were posted. This later generalized to include chronologically listed pieces of writing, or “posts.” It didn’t stop there.

First, the word “blogger,” meaning a person who writes on a blog. Maybe this had special meaning a few years ago, but thanks to sites like Typepad and (gosh) Blogger, anyone can be a blogger. Funny, I always thought that stringing words together for public consumption made you a writer. Essayist. Poet. Hobbyist. Contributor. Journalist (meaning either reporter or one who writes a journal). Master of Letters. Whatever.

Some organizations get carried away entirely. Myspace says, “Post a new blog” and “Read Bobby Blake’s latest blog.” Someone, please, tell Tom that you can’t