Bibliophonics

Jo the Bibliophile over at Another 52 Books has a lovely Bibliowords glossary for (mainly) crime fiction. Here's an example: "Nested-doll story: A riddle inside a mystery wrapped in an enigma, or in other words: a story so full of mysteries framing other mysteries that frame yet more mysteries that they resemble a matrushka doll in their layered complexity."

Mind you, the reason for the glossary is because Jo received a complaint. I think it is a nerve for someone to complain on a blog about the blogger's use of language. If one can't do what one wants on one's blog, what has the world come to (as I said to Minx when someone complained about her blog being black)?  And second, it is great fun reading alien terminologies and deducing meaning and idiosyncrasies of language. I love the US idiom I have picked up over the years as a crime fiction fan. And only the other day I used the phrase "giving a bollocking" in a comment on Crossword Be-Bop blog, and noted that Douglas has picked up on it and is asking if this is commonly used vernacular. (Answer, yes.) I think us bloggers from different countries who are commenting on each other's blogs have a lot to offer each other in this regard ;-) Mind you, Jo could have the last laugh -- she is in Iceland.

Creative and evolving use of language is something to be enjoyed and savoured, or learned from (free-spiritedly or seriously), definitely not complained about. And I think it is bad manners to complain about someone's use of language on their blog, or to comment adversely about how the blog is designed.

Comments

[Steve Clackson]

Everyday I learn a new phrase or slang word from blogs. Keep your language your own, let the nay sayers spit in the wind while the rest of us learn.

ps...of course sometimes I have no idea what the word is or means but that makes it interesting.

[Bibliophile]

The complaint was about me using a word not found in a dictionary, which isn't surprising as I coined it myself. I suspect the complainer was not a native speaker of English (or indeed a good one), as they didn't seem to have been able to detuct the meaning of the word (firstbookitis) from the components.

[Maxine]

I like your word "detuct" too, Jo! Is it an intentional or inadvertent mash-up of detect and deduct? Proves your point, either way!
I agree with Steve, language is rich and blog language special.
I like "firstbookitis" and will use it myself in future.

[Maureen]

Maxine, thanks for pointing out the glossary by Jo the Bibliophile.

I enjoy the many different styles of blogs and the use of different slang words and unique voice of each blog is what makes it all so much fun to read! I can't imagine complaining on someone's blog about the language they choose to use or the design of their blog.

Jo, I enjoyed reading your glossary and I think you're right about the person who complained. He/she probably wasn't a native speaker of English. And the word "detuck" is very clever. I agree with Maxine. It proves your point.