HoYay!

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Jan 20, 2005, at 12:50 PM, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:

> On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 10:23:38 -0500, Martha Barnette
> <martha at FUNWORDS.COM>
> wrote:
>
>> Newsweek reports this expression from the blogosphere denoting
>> "awkward
>> glances or sexually ambiguous dialogue between guys" (short for
>> "Homoeroticism Yay!"), usually exclaimed while watching TV programs
>> featuring romantic tension between male characters.
>>
>> http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6827282/site/newsweek/
>
> Well, it's a bit inaccurate for Newsweek to say the term is from "the
> blogosphere", since it originated in the fan forums for the TV show
> "Angel" on the website Mighty Big TV (now called Television Without
> Pity).
>  (Or perhaps "blogosphere" is now being extended beyond blogs to any
> online chatter?)

ben and i cited tim mcdaniel at pretty much the same time.  meanwhile,
about "blogosphere"...

for many years i've had trouble explaining to people the difference
between mailing lists (like this one) and newsgroups (like sci.lang)
and websites and IRC.  now blogs are added to the (indistinguishable)
mix: it's all web stuff.  i suppose the confounding was inevitable.
like ben says, online chatter.

arnold