Posies

Today’s a double feature day.  That means you get both Word of the Day AND This Day in History.  First, Word Of The Day:  “Nosegay.” This means “posies,” or a small bunch of flowers.

 

 

Nosegay is a homegrown word originating in 15th c. Middle English.  It joins “nose” (i.e. “schnoz”) with “gay” (then meaning “ornament”) – thus, “nosegay.” A bunch of flowers, or an ornament appealing to the nose. Today the word is common in the bridal business.  It refers specifically to a round, tight bunch as opposed to a cascading bouquet. Occasionally it’s used metaphorically for things that resemble a bouquet. For example, a compact collection of enjoyably lighthearted short stories might be called “a nosegay of a book.”

 

I think I can honestly say I have never once read a book review containing the word “nosegay.”  Or, for that matter, “posies.”  Nevertheless, moving on…

 

This Day In History

 

On this day in 2006, the San Francisco-based podcasting company Odeo officially releases Twttr, its short messaging service (SMS) for groups.  The free application allowed users to share short status updates by sending one text message to a single number (“40404”). Over the next few years, the simple “microblogging” service would explode in popularity.  Today Twitter is one of the world’s leading social networking platforms.

 

 

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Evan Williams first made his name in the Silicon Valley tech world with the Web diary-publishing service Blogger which was sold to Google in 2003. Two years later he co-founded Odeo with Noah Glass.  That fall, Odeo’s main service became obsolete when Apple launched iTunes which included a built-in podcasting platform.

After Williams asked his team of 14 employees to brainstorm ideas for the flailing startup, one of the company’s engineers came up with the concept of a service allowing users to share SMS personal status updates to groups. Soon they had a working prototype, and a name inspired by bird sounds. “Twttr” was adopted after some other choices (i.e. “FriendStalker”) were rejected.

At the time Twttr launched as a side project, Odeo’s primary podcasting platform was going nowhere. That fall Williams bought out the company’s investors, changed Odeo’s name to Obvious Corporation and fired Glass. Within 6 months, Twttr had become Twitter. Once it went public,  the founders imposed a 140-character limit based on the maximum length of text messages at the time.  This was later expanded to 280.

Twitter’s usage exploded in 2007 at the South by Southwest convention in Austin where more than 60,000 daily tweets were sent. By 2013 the company had more than 2,000 employees and more than 200 million users. That November, when it went public, Twitter was valued at $31 billion.

Increasingly, Twitter has become a source of breaking news. President Trump has often tweeted policy decisions and other announcements during his administration. Like other social media, Twitter faces pressure to police site content more closely to prevent bullying, harassment and hate speech, and to protect user privacy.

 

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With its abbreviated, tightly-bunched format, I guess you could call Twitter “the nosegay of social media?” Me personally, I wish they had stuck with the name “FriendStalker.” Or, as my daughter likes to say…  “I think the Internet is a great big mistake.”  Ah well.  At least we still have posies.  Carry on, friends.

 

 

Always fresh flowers on the table at the 392 Midstream Airbnb.

And never any tweets – or stalking – at dewconsulting.net/blog

Posies versus tweets:  You make the call.