Wired: "Robot Wisdom on the Street"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

I came across this _Wired_ article from last year telling the sad
story of Jorn Barger:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.07/posts.html?pg=6?tw=wn_tophead_5

Barger was one of the original bloggers and is credited as the first
to use the word "weblog" -- he started the "Robot Wisdom Weblog" in
1997. But now he's a panhandler, drifting from town to town and
managing to live on less than a dollar a day. While in San Francisco,
he panhandled with a sign that read:

"Coined the term 'weblog,' never made a dime."

This should be required reading for anyone who thinks that
successfully coining a word will bring them everlasting fame and
fortune.


--Ben Zimmer

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org