Two years ago, when Mac OS 10.4 “Tiger” came out, I noted the amusing example of usage given to the term “blog” by the built-in Dictionary application, one which seemed to impugn bloggers as having an “unhealthy interest in computers.” Since then, there have been 10 sub-version updates to Tiger– the most recent just ten days ago.
Somewhere along the line, the Dictionary also got a new definition for “blog” which no longer makes the same implication.
Just when this change was made is unclear. Apple apparently receives their definitions from the New Oxford American Dictionary, so it would have originated from the Oxford University Press.
Did some blogger complain about being colored (or coloured) as “unhealthy?”
blog |bläg|
noun
a Web site on which an individual or group of users produces an ongoing narrative : Most of his work colleagues were unaware of his blog until recently.
verb ( blogged, blogging) [ intrans. ]
add new material to or regularly update a blog.DERIVATIVES
blog•ger nounORIGIN a shortening of WEBLOG .
In April, a more politically charged flurry was covered by Macenstein.com dealing with another oddity, this time for “democracy”. The thesaurus listing offered the following example of usage:
democracy
noun
a democracy in Iraq is quite unlikely for now or any time soon
