BBB / 101.01

I’m a 60+ Baby Boomer new to blogging – only about four months old.  Earlier this year, I decided I needed something new, something thought provoking, to do.  I like to write but had lost a newspaper column, so I decided, resolutely, to blog; why not jump in – I couldn’t sink ’cause I had a ‘net.  (you know, the Inter-net)

One of the things I decided to use my blog for, was to show other Baby Boomers how to blog, how easy it is, and how much fun it could be – especially if they became word-droppers.  Word-droppers are something like name-droppers, but it’s using the “jargon of bloggin'” to impress their friends.  Or at our age, to put us to sleep.

So go get your Mom or Dad, maybe your Aunt Ethel or Uncle Chuck, and sit them down in front of the computer, promise them they don’t have to touch anything, and with a pencil, or a piece of celery as a pointer, start them reading this entry. 

If they don’t get up for 15 minutes or so, we’re good or they’re in trouble.  But don’t expect them to, God forbid, comment.  Enjoy.

I started reading and investigating blogging in the spring of ’08, I started this blog in August ’08; I’m not an expert, and just an enthusiast sharing what I’ve gleaned so far from my experiences.  

I asked everyone I knew, and asked them to ask everyone they knew, if they blogged.  No one did and no one knew anyone who did.  At least no one admitted to it. 

With all the hype about blogging, I couldn’t believe I couldn’t find a real-live blogger.  Then it struck me; my “everyone’s” were probably over 60, and probably not blogging; blogging, like skateboarding, belongs to the younger generation.  So, I went to my generation’s default information resource – the public library.

They had loads of books on blogging – but none that I could readily comprehend; it was all Greek / geek, to me.  Looking at the layered diagrams, foreign words, (techno-babble), layouts, and themes had me wishing for one of those bodice-ripper paperback romance novels with the gorgeous hunk and the cowering, but voluptuous female, on the front instead. 

I forced myself to take out a few very basic “how to blog books,” and then bribed myself with chocolate covered Oreos’ to open them up. 

I spent a lot of time looking up every other work in the glossary.  Every library book had a glossary; don’t read a blog book without one.  A glossary will soon become your BFF/best friend forever.  After skimming, scanning, browsing, and a lot of Oreo dunking, the words finally started to sink in, and I began to recognize the jargon of bloggin’.

Here’s an on-line Glossary of blogging terms, Quick on Line Tips.  If you don’t like this one, just do a search for “blog glossary,” there’s a million of them out there in the ether, (that air, high above the earth that is teaming with Internet info).

It is a whole ‘nother blogging world out there.  A, a world christened the Blogosphere – for the compilation of all the blogs on the Internet.  This, incidentally, is currently estimated at around 188 million blogs, although one person can have more than one blog.

But here’s the main reason why you should at least be familiar with bloggin’ jargon – it can save you from humiliating yourself to the teenager you’ll be talking to for blog support.  Believe me – they are all MUCH, MUCH, younger than we are!

Check back for weekly installments of Baby Boomer Blogging.