Blooger alert!

So today I posted a link to my blog on Facebook (I know, big news!).  I only have 64 friends on Facebook mostly because I don't believe in adding people that a) you don't know, b) you only know through a friend of a friend of a cousin's friend, c) you only know professionally or d) you have only met once in your life...unless they're family :).  Anyways, I thought it would be a good idea to get feedback from my "friends" now that I have a few blog posts under my belt (what a strange idiomatic expression!).  To be (somewhat) honest, I don't really care what people think because my blog makes me happy but I thought it might be a good strategic move to post a link on Facebook to make sure I'm on the right track with this blog (your feedback is greatly appreciated!) and to possibly increase my audience stats (and to make other people happy with my posts, of course!).  As of today, I have 4 followers but sadly I represent 25% of those followers (yes, I'm following myself!) which is an improvement over my first days blogging when I represented 50% of my followers (congrats to Ronna on being my first legit follower!). Seriously though, I would love to get your feedback:

·         What do you like or not like (be gentle!)?

·         What would you be interested in reading about on this blog?

·         Have there been any grammatical or spelling errors?

·         Do you think I'm pretty, I mean, do you like the photo that I've posted or should I change it? Please keep in mind that this is not a dating site unless, of course, you are able to hook me up with Johlin (blog post reference - Love Actually...John Cusack or Colin Firth?) then a photo change might be fitting :)

 
Now back to the initial reason why I started writing this blog!  When I initially posted my status update on Facebook to advertise inform friends and family of my blog, I posted the following:

is a blooger! If you have time to spare and are in pursuit of some brain-numbing blog posts, check out my new blog (www.traceybdot.blogspot.com). I would love to get your feedback so send me a message with your thoughts, critique and/or ideas. The blog is my creative outlet (no, I’m not very creative!) and is just for fun so don't go expecting literary magnum opus because you'll be thoroughly disappointed :p

Did you catch my mistake?  I typed “blooger” instead of “blogger” which got me thinking: “is blooger a real word? If it is, what does it mean? If it isn't, shouldn't it be? If it isn't, could I make it an official word? If so, how would I do that? How could I get the word "blooger" into the Oxford Dictionary? (For all of you Merriam-Webster lovers, the Oxford Dictionary kicks butt...okay, I digress!) So if I could get it (not the word "it" but the word "blooger"...geesh!) Hmmmm...I wonder if the word "geesh" is in the dictionary? Sorry, back to blooger...if I could get the word "blooger" into the dictionary, how would I define it? 

Here’s my proposed dictionary entry:

Blooger  

Pronunciation: /ˈblʊgə, ˈbluːgə/

noun

1.      a blog about boogers

Not surprisingly, the word “blooger” does not exist in the Oxford Dictionary but surprisingly, the word “blooger” does appear in the online urban dictionary (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=blooger) and is defined as:

1.      a bloody booger, atrociously picked by by persons with little regard for hygiene or interpersonal communication

2.      A bloody booger. A combination of dirt, dust, toxicants and pollutants which have attached to the inner wall of the nasal passage for so long that when plucked from the nose it comes out soaked in blood.

3.      The author of a particularly petty, hostile web log

4.      A booger, but the hard kind, not the slimy kind

Appallingly, a Google search of “blooger” resulted in a website with the tagline “You think it's a blog about boogers, but it's snot. A bloog is a blog about boogers. If you love to talk about boogers as much as we do, create your own bloog!”  FYI – I will not be giving out the url for this website so if you’re interested in this site, find it yourself  (P.S. You’re gross!!!).

So who knew my definition of a blooger would turn out to be somewhat accurate? Maybe I should go into the word creator/definition writer business :)

Anyways, all this talk of “words that aren’t in the dictionary but are spoken and/or written” reminds me of a show I used to listen to on CBC radio about words....anybody listen to that radio program? Okay, so I just spent 15 minutes looking on my bookshelves for the book that was written as a result of the CBC Radio program and I found it!  The book (and radio segment) is Wanted Words – From Amalgamots to Undercarments – Language Gaps Found and Fixed by Jane Farrow.  What a hilarious book (and radio program)!  For example, the word “forevuary” is defined as the long, cold, dark span between New Year’s Day and Good Friday.  For every “wanted word” there is a list of words that were submitted by listeners so other names for this interminable stretch include bleakstreak, daylight-waiting time, winter slowstice and wintermission. 

I had forgotten how much fun words can be!  Now I can’t help but wonder how many words are spoken and/or written that haven’t yet been defined in a dictionary?  Do you have any favourites?  Yes, that’s spelled f-a-v-o-u-r-i-t-e-s in Canada...don’t even get me started!!!