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Before the Beginning, There was No Blog

An otherwise intelligent young man insisted that I start a blog as I had so much to share. Our Web master, a retired British butler living in France, joined the chorus when he confessed he would never have built our Website if he had known about blogs at the time. Not really knowing what this blog thing was, I found their sentiments extreme and somewhat disconcerting…was it possible our Modern Butler Web site was not just an oxymoron but even rendered an anachronism in the time it took to upload? It seemed so.

So, as so often happens with ideas, I found myself composing during downtime, which is to say, blogging on the bog. First thing to determine was a title…Butler’s Blog? Surely rather too facile for those who like to think outside the box/throne. The Blogging Butler? A bit more of a ring to it, but not optimal, as I understood blogs to be accepting of inputs from others. The Blogging Butlers? Yup, let’s not waste time looking for perfection on the basis that it must be hard fought and won, for The Blogging Butlers works for me.

The Blogging Butlers is Born. Alright, time then to look at a few other blogs, see what one has to do to create one recognizable to other bloggers. Actually, what is the meaning and derivation of this word; from which skull, and with what in mind, did it arise?

NOUN (1) a shared on-line journal where people can post diary entries about their personal experiences and hobbies; Example: “Postings on a blog are usually in chronological order” VERB (1) read, write, or edit a shared on-line journal. Courtesy of www.freedictionary.org

blog 1998, short for weblog (which is attested from 1994, though not in the sense ‘online journal’), from (World Wide) Web + log.
Joe Bloggs (c.1969) was British slang for “any hypothetical person” (cf. U.S. equivalent Joe Blow). Courtesy of Etymonline.com

Hmm…not sure how a blog would substitute for all the information one wants on a Website, but no doubt my Web master will pluck up some Dutch courage and essay an answer once this blog is up.

Wondering how to format the blog, I see Google has over three billion entries for blog…looks like it will be a long night, a blogathon (no doubt a term already coined by some wit?). Alright, using scanning skills well-honed over two decades of Internet usage, it takes all of two minutes to summarize all 3 billion sites:

“Blog & community first, selling things second. Voice builds trust and trust sells stuff.” Courtesy of Chris Anderson, The Long Tail

Hmmm. The old kibbutzing/schmoozing-let’s-do-dinner/play-golf-with-business-sliding-in-just-enough-to-keep-the-boss-and-the-taxman-happy-while-we-have-fun gambit in a remote, long-distance incarnation-establish a relationship, interest people. Sounds good to me, even though I rarely did dinner and played golf with clients (anyone who has seen my swing knows why). But having fun, now that’s my idea of fun.

And so, I bring you, The Blogging Butlers….as an adjunct to our good old, static, information-packed Web site that is so turn-of-the-century.