dagblog - Comments for "What's in a Name? Depends on Who's Calling It."

I'm not on twitter either and

ocean-kat — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 18:45:29 +0000

In reply to I didn't read it on Twitter

I'm not on twitter either and read about it on other sites too. It seems to me there's two ways things "explode" on twitter. Someone famous, like Martin, has thousands of followers so when he says something sensational it naturally explodes and spreads as it gets retweeted. Then it gets covered by Salon and others. Its the retweets that mostly cause the explosion. If I follow Martin and retweet something to my 100 followers who don't follow Martin, 10 of which retweet my Martin retweet to each of their 100 followers most of which don't follow Martin, etc.

But in the Justine Sacco case, she only had a couple of hundred followers. Some how buzzfeed and gawker found out about her tweet and publicized it. In a few hours she had thousands of followers all retweeting and commenting on the retweet and it exploded. If not for buzzfeed and gawker her tweet would likely have been unnoticed.

I'm not on twitter but that's how I understand it happening. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I didn't read it on Twitter

Ramona — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 17:11:28 +0000

In reply to The Twitterverse is a funny

I didn't read it on Twitter first. I read it on Salon after seeing a link to it from somewhere else. But it exploded on Twitter, which is why Salon and all the others picked up on it. That's how it works sometimes. You don't even have to be on Twitter to know what's going on there.

It is indeed a funny thing.

The Twitterverse is a funny

Verified Atheist — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 15:06:06 +0000

In reply to Oh, come on. There was

The Twitterverse is a funny thing. I'm on Twitter, for professional reasons, and I was completely unaware of the incident until you mentioned it. Who is suggesting the Twitterverse exploded? Perhaps whoever it is has their Twitter filters set to convert normal responses into an "explosion"? (Just as I have my Twitter filters set so that I get almost no information about what is happening in the Entertainment industry, including professional sports.)

Indeed.

Ramona — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 11:55:10 +0000

In reply to Your comment reminded me of

Indeed.

Your comment reminded me of

artappraiser — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 04:39:00 +0000

In reply to We are dealing with responses

Your comment reminded me of this Woody Allen character's mini-rant:

Oh, come on. There was

Ramona — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 01:54:12 +0000

In reply to He's suggesting that an

Oh, come on. There was nothing offensive about that tweet. Martin was having fun, making jokes, and, while the joke might have fallen flat, he wasn't out to hurt anybody's widdle feelings.

He was bantering with Twitter followers and turning their grammar questions into jokes when he was asked “is this how you spell lasonia?”

His response: “It depends. Are you in an African-American restaurant or at an Italian restaurant.”

Really? That was enough to cause the Twitterverse to explode? And for Salon and who knows who else to applaud Steve Martin for apologizing? For what? Who on earth did he offend?

I'm not getting the outrage. I get the joke. You don't have to explain it to me again.

LOL

rmrd0000 — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 15:51:33 +0000

In reply to I do think that it is

LOL

I do think that it is

EmmaZahn — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 15:31:12 +0000

In reply to We are dealing with responses

I do think that it is interesting that African-American names are ridiculed while names like:

Birch

Sage

Apple

Stone

Dax

Jax

Thora

Brooklyn

Suri

Don't turn heads.

Sure they do and plenty of jokes about them, too. For example: a woman complimenting another for the social consciousness of her daughters' names, Cheyenne and Sierra, only to learn that they were named after the trucks the family owned when they were born.

I think we can move on.

rmrd0000 — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 14:48:52 +0000

In reply to Well said. As I mentioned

I think we can move on. Nothing of a serious nature to see in the Steve Martin tweet.

Well said. As I mentioned

Verified Atheist — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 14:15:02 +0000

In reply to We are dealing with responses

Well said. As I mentioned initially, I'm glad Steve Martin apologized, and I explained why I thought it was appropriate. Even if my interpretation is not what was intended, it clearly could be inferred. I'm not calling for him to be boycotted, or anything like that. I also won't pretend that I've never made a similarly stupid comment, but if I'm called on it, I will apologize.