The ABC Family network, stigmatized by that F-word in its name, now calls itself Freeform. Network president Tom Ascheim told the Television Critics Association that the new name “not only elicits the moment of transition in the medium and a sense of ‘creativity’ and ‘spontaneity’ but also evokes [a] younger 14 to 34-year-old audience, whom he’s dubbed ‘becomers’.” So much to ponder in that single sentence. (Hollywood Reporter)
As for the Freeform logo, Brand New dismisses it as “atrocious in either its stacked or horizontal form.”
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Goodbye jobs, hello gigs. But where does gig come from? (Geoff Nunberg for Fresh Air)
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Dinter, bitz, and gwop: a guide to British youth slang. Wherein you’ll learn that y/y is “an all-purpose question tag like French n’est-ce pas, or a slightly more elegant innit?” (The Conversation, via Lynne Murphy)
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Giant Bomb’s top 10 game names of 2015. (Via Our Bold Hero.)
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Is it just a coincidence that VW’s latest concept car, the Budd-E, shares a name with a vape pen? (AutoWeek, via Alexandra J. Roberts)
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“A definitive and highly unscientific ranking of real algorithms based solely on the coolness of their names.” (Idibon)
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Clara, Amy, Siri, Julie, Cortana: why do so many virtual-assistant apps have female names? (Joanne McNeil for the New York Times)
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Lucy Kellaway presents the Nerb Prize, the Mixed Metaphor Award, and other Golden Flannel Awards for corporate guff:
The Chief Obfuscation Champion prize was split by two successive Twitter CEOS. “[Twitter CEO] Dick Costolo crammed into a single, interminable sentence the words ‘iterate’, ‘logged out experience’, ‘curate’, ‘moments’, ‘platform’ and ‘deliver’. He subsequently resigned and was replaced by Jack Dorsey, who promised straight-talking in an email only to sprinkle it with ‘moving forwards’, and ‘roadmaps’ and ‘reinvest in our most impactful priorities’.”
(Financial Times, via Molly Walker)
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Manspreading, blaccent, singular they, and “speaking with balls”: linguist John McWhorter on 2015 in language: (Salon)
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David Bowie (1947-2016), advertising pitchman. (AdFreak)
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new rule: physicists are no longer allowed to name things pic.twitter.com/sSnb9Q4sUl
— polyintrovert (@wehpudicabok) January 12, 2016
(Hat tip: Ed Cormany).
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And in case you missed it, here’s the crème de la crème of Bundy erotic fanfic, dedicated to the gun-totin’, liberty-seekin’, snack-cravin’ squatters at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. (Colin Meloy of the Decemberists, via Joe. My. God.)
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