You can tell how stuff has changed/influenced our lives by how it has changed our language.
The linguist in me (and I like to claim there is one, haha) has emerged.
I was just thinking about it this morning (when my brain is at the edge of waking up but my body wasn't ready to get out of bed just yet), how proper nouns have evolved to become verbs, particularly around social media tools found on our booming and ever-growing world wide web.
The strongest proof point we have is Google, the world's most popular search engine.
"Go google it lah!"
You'll never hear someone say "I'll go Bing it." (oooh, 1st blow of the day).
What you might hear is "I'll google it on Bing." (2nd blow *dingdingding*)
Yahoo! tried to create a similar effect years ago, with "Do you Yahoo?" but I don't think it ever did catch on.
What about Facebook?
"Do you facebook?" "Yeah, I'm facebook-ing right now!"
Never have I heard anyone say "Come, Friendster me! I'm Friendster-ing." (3rd one, I'm ruthless)
My final proof point for the day: Twitter.
Twitter is major. They have a whole new twictionary for Twitter.
From twerds to Star Twekkies on Twitterverse, tweeple have successfully created a whole new bunch of twords (am I going overboard with this? haha) from one social media tool alone.
What gets to me the most is when someone says "Do you twit?" instead of "Do you tweet?"
Because you should know that a twit can tweet, but a tweet is not necessarily a twit. (I'll leave you to explore the meanings yourself, google it!)
All you need to do to make it offensive is add a comma in it: "Do you, twit?"
And so next time you're online, google your own name (I'm sure you have already!), facebook me and don't tweet rubbish. I indulge in occasional emotional twoutbursts on twitter, bear with me. I'm usually fine by the next tweet. =)
Till I write again, twoodles!
Oct 24, 2009
Oct 18, 2009
Run Terry, Run!
There's this run which is held every year.
In commemoration of this man - Terrance Stanley Fox.
He's the dude who ran the Marathon of Hope halfway across Canada with 1 prosthetic leg.
Without too much grandmother story, here's the short and condensed FAQ on Terry Fox.
How did Terry Fox lose his leg?
Cancer. Something called osteosarcoma.
Which leg?
The right one.
How old was he when he lost his right leg?
Only 18.
What was he like? Tell me more about him.
Well, he was a jock (without the 'dumb' prefix). Seriously. Soccer, rugby, baseball, diving. An active dude, he was. Very driven. A go-getter.
So, why did he run the Marathon of Love?
He lost his leg to cancer, was motivated to make a difference, despite being an amputee. There was no cure for cancer then (and now too). So he ran to raise funds for cancer research. His goal was to raise $1 for each person in Canada at that time, which amounted to $24 million.
Marathon, huh? How far did he run?
He intended to run a total of 8000km across Canada, 42km a day. Unfortunately, he only ran 5,374km (143 days consecutively) before his cancer relapsed and had spread to his lungs.
How did this become an annual tradition?
Someone pledged to Terry Fox that his Marathon of Love would be continued every year in his honour until Terry's dream of overcoming cancer is realized.
And here we are, still championing the cause of cancer research.
Some of you may have been so unfortunate to lose a family member or close loved ones to cancer. But we can still do our part to help the Cancer Research Intiatives Foundation (CARIF) in their noble efforts.
Terry Fox Run KL 2009
Date: Sunday, 1 November 2009
Venue: Flag off @ 9.00 a.m. Taman Tasik Perdana
Registration: FREE FREE FREE!
"Hah, then how they raise money?" you ask.
Get this T-shirt for only RM25. And do your part to support cancer research. If you want to order the T-shirts, call/sms/email or leave me a comment, and I can get them for ya.
See you at the run!
In commemoration of this man - Terrance Stanley Fox.
He's the dude who ran the Marathon of Hope halfway across Canada with 1 prosthetic leg.
Without too much grandmother story, here's the short and condensed FAQ on Terry Fox.
How did Terry Fox lose his leg?
Cancer. Something called osteosarcoma.
Which leg?
The right one.
How old was he when he lost his right leg?
Only 18.
What was he like? Tell me more about him.
Well, he was a jock (without the 'dumb' prefix). Seriously. Soccer, rugby, baseball, diving. An active dude, he was. Very driven. A go-getter.
So, why did he run the Marathon of Love?
He lost his leg to cancer, was motivated to make a difference, despite being an amputee. There was no cure for cancer then (and now too). So he ran to raise funds for cancer research. His goal was to raise $1 for each person in Canada at that time, which amounted to $24 million.
Marathon, huh? How far did he run?
He intended to run a total of 8000km across Canada, 42km a day. Unfortunately, he only ran 5,374km (143 days consecutively) before his cancer relapsed and had spread to his lungs.
How did this become an annual tradition?
Someone pledged to Terry Fox that his Marathon of Love would be continued every year in his honour until Terry's dream of overcoming cancer is realized.
And here we are, still championing the cause of cancer research.
Some of you may have been so unfortunate to lose a family member or close loved ones to cancer. But we can still do our part to help the Cancer Research Intiatives Foundation (CARIF) in their noble efforts.
Terry Fox Run KL 2009
Date: Sunday, 1 November 2009
Venue: Flag off @ 9.00 a.m. Taman Tasik Perdana
Registration: FREE FREE FREE!
"Hah, then how they raise money?" you ask.
Get this T-shirt for only RM25. And do your part to support cancer research. If you want to order the T-shirts, call/sms/email or leave me a comment, and I can get them for ya.
See you at the run!
Oct 12, 2009
Dancing. Waiting.
Again, I'm reminded of a lesson I am still learning - waiting.
It helps that I can fully visualize the pictures Aunty Selina paints.
Only because I know her and her characters pretty well.
Also because I'm a sucker for dance.
Which is why I'm encouraged by this devotional.
Dance? What Dance?!
I'm blessed. Thank you, Aunty Selina.
You have always been a blessing to me.
It helps that I can fully visualize the pictures Aunty Selina paints.
Only because I know her and her characters pretty well.
Also because I'm a sucker for dance.
Which is why I'm encouraged by this devotional.
Dance? What Dance?!
I'm blessed. Thank you, Aunty Selina.
You have always been a blessing to me.
Oct 4, 2009
20 years
As much as we can try to re-create innocence, a lot has changed in 20 years.
Size-wise, quite obviously. =P
We'll do this again 20 years from now. ;-)
We'll do this again 20 years from now. ;-)
