Mike Pope
@mikepope.com
Tech writing & editing (update: now retired), language & words, occasional cats. Friday words when the mood strikes me (and when it's Friday): https://mikepopewords.com/
Does "purposed to be merry" mean what I think it means?
Samuel Pepys@samuelpepys.bsky.social · yesterdayTo Westminster hall, and not finding Mrs. Lane, with whom I purposed to be merry, I went to Jervas’s and took him and his wife over the water to their mother Palmer’s (with whom I have two or three years ago made good sport with Mr. Mallard).
WotD: "free as in puppy" to describe vibe-coded software that doesn't account for ongoing maintenance. A play on "free as in beer" and "free as in speech", pillars of the free software movement. From Dare Obasanjo bsky.app/profile/carn...
Dare Obasanjo@carnage4life.bsky.social · 4d agoVibe coded software is free as in puppy not free as in beer. Even if writing code is now cheap, you still have to maintain it.
WotD: layout shift, "where you go to click on a part of the UI and it changes a millisecond before you do so, causing you to misclick on something else" (Threads user). Someone suggested the term "defresh" ("like refresh, but the bad version"), heh. developers.google.com/publisher-ta...
Minimize layout shift | Google Publisher Tag | Google for Developers
developers.google.com
Something I don't get about SCOTUS's efforts to expand executive power is whether the conservative majority really is doing this out of ideological purity and they'd rule the same for a left-leaning administration. Surely they don't believe in a permanent conservative administration?
WotD: carspreading, the steady increase in the length, width, height, and weight of automobiles. Essentially, the popularity of SUVs is spreading to Europe. www.bbc.com/news/article...
‘Carspreading’ could lead to extra 400 crash deaths a year by 2040, study finds
Analysis shows cars in Europe have grown longer, taller and wider every year since 2000
theguardian.com
WotD: shoppertainment/shoppertaining, "the blending of e-commerce and entertainment to help engage customers and promote sales" — specifically "interactive content, hosting live events, [or] offering unique experiences that cannot be found elsewhere". www.giosg.com/blog/what-is...
What is Shoppertainment? (& How to Use it in eCommerce)
Shoppertainment merges shopping and entertainment to engage website visitors. Learn what shoppertainment is and how to use it to increase your sales.
giosg.com
WotD: dilemma action/dilemma demonstration, a "non-violent civil disobedience designed to create a 'response dilemma' for public authorities by forcing them to either concede some public space to protesters or make themselves look absurd or heavy-handed by acting against the protest." (Wikipedia)
from @colingorrie.bsky.social: "Language change doesn’t announce itself as a revolution. Instead, it shows up as complaints that kids say things differently (and wrong), or that old people speak strangely and embarrassingly." www.deadlanguagesociety.com/p/when-will-...
When will Modern English end?
Or is it already over?
deadlanguagesociety.com
The term "chaise longue" seems to be completing its folk-etymological journey into English — at least, if Costco signage is any indication.
WotD: one[-]shotted. In gaming, "the action of being defeated by a single attack" (Urban Dictionary). More recently, "psychosis brought on by a single exposure to something. Used in the context of powerful psychadelics or delusional behavior brought on by excessive ChatGPT use." (UD again) (cont)
WotD: crafternoon, "An afternoon gathering dedicated to crafts or other hobby activities." en.wiktionary.org/wiki/crafter...
crafternoon - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
en.wiktionary.org
Beth's Cafe, Seattle. Particularly relevant for tech folks in Seattle, who for decades were told that "Our People Are Our Most Valuable Resource".
WotD: woozle effect, where a single dubious source becomes the source for many others, resulting in widespread (tho incorrect) belief. Inspired by Winnie-the-Pooh! Via Kottke kottke.org/26/05/004899...
“A woozle effect…occurs when frequent citation of previous p...
“A woozle effect…occurs when frequent citation of previous publications that lack evidence misleads individuals, groups and the public into thinking or believin
kottke.org
WotD: shmoderate, Matthew Yglesias's label for candidates who have eclectic views that overlap with both sides, how about that, yet also don't want to be labeled as moderates, for reasons. www.slowboring.com/p/shmoderati...?
Shmoderation is the future
Who cares what you call an eclectic politician who appeals to the hodgepodge of views of heterodox voters?
slowboring.com
WotD: hot-washing. Of Hollywood adaptations "when source material that’s complicated has its edges smoothed out by the casting of conventionally hot people who are made to look conventionally hot in a way that clashes with the source material" lithub.com/hollywood-ne...
Hollywood Needs to Stop Hot-Washing Literary Adaptations
I finally caught the latest film adaptation of Wuthering Heights last week and even though I knew it had been divisive I was still disappointed in a way I hadn’t imagined. I was prepared for the fi…
lithub.com
WotD: ballmaxxing, "the pursuit of bigger and bigger balls [testicles] by fluid infusions". www.menshealth.com/sex-women/a7...
The Men Who Want to Supersize Their Testicles
How far would you be willing to go for bigger balls?
menshealth.com
WotD: under[-]babied, a condition in American families identified by Dr. Oz, Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, whereby "you either don’t have children or you have less children than you’d want to have". www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
‘Americans are under-babied’: Dr Oz issues stark warning over US fertility ‘crisis’
Former TV physician says women need to have more children for the good of the country
independent.co.uk
