Spider-Man marketing by Blog

I’ve seen it spelt all kinds of different ways; weblogs, web logs, logs, web blogs, the list goes on. Who’s to say which one is actually the correct one?

Google seems to think “web log” is perfectly fine; http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=mozclient&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&q=define%3Aweb+log

The only place that “Web Log” is commonly used is in mainstream press writings. As we’ve seen by their past articles on blogs, this is not a very authoritative source.

The term weblog was coined by Robot Wisdom. Since he made up the word, he gets to decide how it’s spelled. And he spells it weblog.

If “Web log” were a correct spelling then the term “blog” wouldn’t make much sense.

Kottke apparently is irritated when the press mis-spells weblog as well. He has a good summary of the origins of the word, early uses, and even cites the Oxford English Dictionary as using the correct spelling.

http://www.kottke.org/03/08/its-weblog-not-web-log

Furthermore, Dictionary.com has no results for the term “web log” but does for “weblog.” Dictionary.com does list definitions for other multiple word phrases (“log cabin” for instance), but declines to accept “Web Log” as a definable phrase.

It totally does not matter how “weblogs” is spelled and I get sick of people saying it’s “weblogs” based on usage and first usage etc. The point is so moot as to be rediculous. The first people to use “weblogs” were mis-using the words “web” and “logs,” so there! I personally put “blog” at the top of mine, but now I think it’s time to change it to “Web Log,” just to rile things up. Is a “web log” not a “weblog?” Same difference, you know? And if it’s not, then fine, I’ll call mine a “Snausage.” It’s just so snotty to take an excusionary stance on this.

I’m really not being pedantic here. It’s a marketing mistake for Sony to use this spelling. It’s (almost) always corporations and large media outlets that use this spelling. Remember when you were a teenager and your dad tried to look cool but didn’t quite get it? That’s what the media outlets are doing. They want to get on the bandwagon by embracing or acknowledging blogs. Their culture requires that everything goes by the book, in this case a style manual. The style manual says that it’s “Web site” instead of “website” so they’re applying that same logic to the word “weblogs.”

If a company wants to appeal to and connect with bloggers, they need to use their language. Using “Web logs” immediately marks them as an outsider who doesn’t really get it.

No, it’s not only the press who gets it “wrong.” Many personal publishers also spell it “Web Logs.” I just posted about this on my site (now named “Phil’s Own Web Log”), but I guess my frustration is also partly confusion, since bloggers seem otherwise to be such a friendly and open community. Another thing is we’re getting mentioned at all. Can’t we be happy with that? Looking like a bunch of whiners when our label is spelled wrong will make us less likely to be mentioned in the future. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Dad isn’t trying to hang out with us, he’s talking about us to his friends. It should be OK if he spells it “Limousine” instead of “Limozeen.”

Excerpt: This is the community that developed trackback and continues to push atom and rss beyond the realm of imagining. Why get bent out of shape over a spelling issue?