We are now the Knights Who Say "CELEBRINERD!"
Noah seems unduly concerned that Ken Jennings' very own neologism "celebrinerd" break into everyday usage. I'm nothing if not a supportive friend, and since this blog is often Linguistics-related, I can't turn down the rare opportunity to participate in live language development! Think of it as a giant Sociolinguistic experiment. Mr. Jennings has identified a niche for a word he thinks people will find useful. He puts it out to the public. If the public does indeed have a use for it, it will presumably catch on.
More interesting, in this case, might be if it didn't. I mean that in the sense that it seems like such an obvious hit. The "null hypothesis" is that it will catch on; if it doesn't, we have some 'splain' to do. What would it mean? Well, it might mean that the world has become safer for nerds - no longer a need to have a special category for nerd celebrities. Bill Gates is just a hit, end of story? Yeah, hardly likely - I don't believe in it either. So I guess the other explanation would just be that no one paid attention.
Well, it won't be for lack of trying! Celebrinerd. CELEBRINERD! There - I said it again! Though I doubt whatever algorithm the Google people are using now bothers to note things like emphasis. Which, when you think about it, is a cool suggestion for search engine improvment. Crack out the C compiler!!! Or better yet - the world's first fully SCHEME-IMPLEMENTED SEARCH ENGINE!!! HA! If THAT caught on I would definitely have earned my right to be the Ueber-Celebrinerd. Or the Ur-Celebrinerd. Or...well, maybe we should ask Ken if there's a ranking scheme built in to his new concept. I guess it would be hard to top Mr. Gates here, though, honestly.
However, if we get to nominate a Gates replacement, then it is my completely objective and wholly unbiased opinion that the honor should go to Dan Friedman. Which it no doubt will once Scheme is the world's most popular programming language. Only a matter of time, only a matter of time...
posted by Joshua @ 4:40 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
See, I knew I couldn't be the only one out there who blogged about celebrinerd!
Replying your question on my blog:
Why, through the magic of Google Blog Search, of course.
This is what happens when I have to sit at a desk for 7 hours and yet I only have about 1 hour of actual work . . .
(cross-posted at my blog)
About Googling:
If you ever find yourself with 6 hours to kill and a DSL connection to abuse, try http://www.55fun.com, which contains a downloadable PDF (or Word) version of 55 Ways to Have Fun with Google by Philipp Lenssen.
I also tend to poke around in Google Labs a lot, but that is because I [heart] Google. [semi-related story that you could care less about: Cathy and I were coming out of Pizza Hut at lunch & in the rack of gumball/candy/junk machines was a sticker dispenser; one of the stickers was "Geek" formatted to look like the Google logo, which Cathy said I totally needed, but since we were already running late (stoopid half-hour lunch break!) and I did not have the $36 in quarters it would no doubt take to finally get the sticker I wanted from the machine, I bid it a sad adieu and got in the car.]
Anyhow, I'm shutting up now {I hear your sigh of relief!} and forcing myself to unplug the Internets connection so I can get some actual freelance work done. The Indians-A's game is starting (okay, 2 outs in the first), and I promised my procrastinating self that I would be doing actual work by first pitch. We see how that worked out.
Post a Comment
<< Home