Saskia Wilson-Brown

March 4, 2010 • 9:53 pm 0

Look, guys: I coined another term about the internet

Me-Broadcast
[mee; brawd-kast, -kahst]

(n.) A public statement about oneself on a social networking website. Synonymous with ‘status update’ or ‘tweet’. Usage: “Don’t compare your insides to other peoples’ me-broadcasts.”
(v.) The act of frittering away time by carefully wording your numerous status updates so as to paint a picture of a carefree and incredibly jealousy-inducing life. Usage: “Your time spent me-broadcasting has resulted in a credible social persona that will no doubt land you your next amazing job or super-hot girlfriend.”

OK thank you, goodnight.

Filed under: just killing time, self-referential, words I like , me-broadcast

October 20, 2009 • 12:40 pm 0

Coining a term

Pith·y·dot·com
[pith-ee; dot; kom]
pith· y· dot· com· ly (adv.) pith· y· dot· com· ness (n.)

(adj.) Terse and full of meaning or substance; clever, short and self-referential, with a soupçon of narcissism; Used exclusively in association with online public messaging when employed for the benefit of anonymous followers and demi-friends. Usage: “Well, Barbara, I understand your concerns: In person he’s pretty sadtrombone.com. It’s just that his Twitter updates are so pithydotcom that I’ve decided to meet him for dinner, regardless.”; “I wish she would speak as pithydotcomly to me as she does to her Facebook friends…”

Filed under: just killing time, words I like , pithydotcom

July 5, 2009 • 11:22 pm 0

Another thing I wish I had written myself

“i hate your personal brand.”

(Via @povertyjetset)

Filed under: words I like , Mark Schoneveld, things i wish i had written myself

July 1, 2009 • 11:37 pm 1

Germans have wonderful words, but they’re also completely bonkers

Ruinenwert is the concept that a building be designed such that if it eventually collapsed, it would leave behind aesthetically pleasing ruins that would last far longer without any maintenance at all. (Thanks Wikipedia)

Schadenfreude is pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. To wit: Philosopher and sociologist Theodor Adorno defined schadenfreude as “largely unanticipated delight in the suffering of another which is cognized as trivial and/or appropriate.” (Thanks, again, Wikipedia)

Abstoßungskraft is the moving force by which a material cause can act on any other to remove them, e.g. a repulsion force. Kant writes about this in his early metaphysical essays relating to the science of matter, and it has something to do with another wonderful word whose meaning eludes me: ‘Zurückstoßungskraft’. (Thanks to this translation site of German philosophical expressions, and a bad Google translation of this site)

Gesamtkunstwerk is an artistic creation, as the music dramas of Richard Wagner, that synthesizes the elements of music, drama, spectacle, dance, etc. A universal artwork, one which makes use of all or many art forms or strives to do so. First used by German writer and philosopher Eusebius Trahndorff in an essay in 1827, Wagner used it to describe the Attic Tragedy. (Thanks, Wikipedia & Dictionary dot com)

Volksverhetzung is a concept in German criminal law that bans the incitement of hatred against a segment of the population. You are guilty of this act if your acts are deemed to incite ‘hatred against segments of the population or call for violent or arbitrary measures against them’; or ‘assault the human dignity of others by insulting, maliciously maligning, or defaming segments of the population’. (Thanks, Wikipedia)

Filed under: words I like , Abstoßungskraft, German, Gesamtkunstwerk, Philosophy, Ruinenwert, Schadenfreude, Volksverhetzung

May 27, 2009 • 5:14 pm 0