Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Have I made a "meme" of it?
I once again fail to create an original idea
It is one of my few unrealistic life ambitions (see above: "setting reasonable goals") to introduce a new term into English slang. In my last couple of posts, I've tried these three:
Thanks to Bozzo, my "googlation" thing may have become a "meme." After seeing the word "meme" for the umpteenth time -- it's a frequently used term of art in some blogger circles -- I finally broke down and asked what the hell it means. As Phantom Scribbler kindly explained (care of Dictionary.com), it is:
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It is one of my few unrealistic life ambitions (see above: "setting reasonable goals") to introduce a new term into English slang. In my last couple of posts, I've tried these three:
googlation: to translate and retranslate text from English to a foreign language and back to EnglishAfter-the-fact Google searches reveal all three terms have appeared on the web, though not using the meanings I suggest. It turns out that "googlate" already has a pretty good meaning, according to Unwords.com:
googlish: the English language text that results from googlating; and
eyedar: the innate ability of women to bust men who are scoping other women
To enter random words into a search engine out of sheer boredom or curiousity.Maybe my proposed meaning of "googlation" could become definition #2. Based on past experience, I would guess that none of my slang will catch on, but "Googlate" seems to be the frontrunner, thanks to two posts from Bozzo at Marginal Utility. "It's the latest craze to hit the internets," he says here. The latest craze between me and him, perhaps; he also says here that:
Oscar creats some Googlation art from the words "the Bush Administration" at the Columnist Manifesto, in the latest example of why his blog deserves one hundred times its average daily traffic.I have always considered Bozzo to be a blogger of great perspicacity as well as taste.
Thanks to Bozzo, my "googlation" thing may have become a "meme." After seeing the word "meme" for the umpteenth time -- it's a frequently used term of art in some blogger circles -- I finally broke down and asked what the hell it means. As Phantom Scribbler kindly explained (care of Dictionary.com), it is:
A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.Okay, so has my version of "Googlation" acquired memedom? Note how my "control" of this particular unit of cultural "information" has already passed out of my hands and into the more general blogosphere, here.
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I think what your version of Googlation is currently lacking for meme-dom is self-perpetuation.
I tried to think up with an alternative term that doesn't use Google's trade dress (and that lacks the association of Google with web searches, as in the pre-existing usage you located), but came up dry.
Among other things, I concluded that English really needs is a prefix that captures the round-trip aspect of Googlation better than trans-. Or, if it already has one, I need to know what it is.
I tried to think up with an alternative term that doesn't use Google's trade dress (and that lacks the association of Google with web searches, as in the pre-existing usage you located), but came up dry.
Among other things, I concluded that English really needs is a prefix that captures the round-trip aspect of Googlation better than trans-. Or, if it already has one, I need to know what it is.
I've had lots of fun playing with Googlation. I can't come up with a worthy name, either.
- trans-translation? Clumsy.
- retranslation? Maybe. That's what Twain called it. He knew the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
- Babel-fishing? The name identifies it with a less-popular translation service. But the name also ties it to a hit movie.
How about just "the translation meme" or "the retranslation meme?"
- trans-translation? Clumsy.
- retranslation? Maybe. That's what Twain called it. He knew the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
- Babel-fishing? The name identifies it with a less-popular translation service. But the name also ties it to a hit movie.
How about just "the translation meme" or "the retranslation meme?"
I must flex my geekly muscles here and point out that the term "meme" was coined by some sociologist or SF author (or some SF author decided to use it in a story after reading a sociology paper) as an analogy to describe how "thought forms" spread in a culture by relating it with how [virus] genes are spread through a population. Meme, I believe is a shortening of "memory gene" or something like that.
as far as a term that describes the mangling of a language using machine translation devices (such as Babel Fish [from a much more famous set of books vaguely related to the so-called "hit" film of the same name] or Google's translation page), what about something like transmangling or perhaps gargling?
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as far as a term that describes the mangling of a language using machine translation devices (such as Babel Fish [from a much more famous set of books vaguely related to the so-called "hit" film of the same name] or Google's translation page), what about something like transmangling or perhaps gargling?
# posted by 
: 5:28 PM, May 05, 2005
: 5:28 PM, May 05, 2005 Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
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