This is how the Web works for me. I was reading Chris’s blog and saw his favorable comments about Seth’s blog, so I went there. Somewhere on Seth’s blog, he made a parenthetical remark about the word “blurb.” I really like the word “blurb” — it sounds funny, it serves a useful purpose, and it looks recent. I can’t quite explain how that is possible; why “farm” sounds like it has been around longer than “fark.”

So, I googled “blurb” and ended up at Weird Words, where I learned rather succinctly about blurb’s creator, Gelett Burgess, whose other neologism were not quite as successful (though voip and VOIP may be puns now), as well as about blurb’s relationship to bromide, another pet of mine. (Taking an old word and applying it in a new way isn’t a neologism — so what is it?) I think Burgess deserves credit for creating the context that led “blurb” to its meaning, but I’m not sure he really coined the word as we use it (follow the link — decide for yourself). I wonder how one searches for the original Ms. Blurb.

All of which proves that Takin’ Care Of Business is as much my theme song today as it was 30 years ago.

Thanks, Tim Berners-Lee, for the World Wide Web, our hive mind, where ADD is an asset and serendipity endlessly enriches our lives. mjh

Look at me I’m self-employed
I love to work at nothing all day