Okay it's REALLY been bothering me to hear people talking about "lurkers," meaning those who just want to read and don't feel particularly chatty. It's because of Louise Rennison. Her books about Georgia Nicholson, starting with Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging, are full of British-sounding neologisms. That's part of the fun of reading them. (See my previous review here.)
In Georgia's world, a "lurker" is that kind of painful pimple-in-progress that's making a big lump you can feel and is just beginning to look a little red and shiny on the stretched skin over the top. So I get an overly ugly image when I read about "lurkers."
Really, I don't mind anyone lurking about, if they're shy. But it would be nice if everyone would speak up every once in a while about liking (or hating) a poem, or pointing out something I'm missing.
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11 comments:
Hello, Jeanne.
I WILL be over one of these days. . . .
We'll make you tea and cookies. (That's an open offer, to anyone who reads this!)
Well, why haven't you said so sooner?! Geez. If I had known there would be tea and cookies I'd have stopped lurking long ago and made a beeline for your doorstep!
I tried to comment on yesterday's poem! I really did! But I couldn't quite put into words what I wanted to say. I was puzzled by how I knew without looking that it was written by a woman. I was captivated by its mix of humor and despair in a perfect wintery cocktail. And while it started out seeming superficial, it stuck surprisingly well.
Harriet--every time I slip towards despair about the weather, I just read your blog and see how much worse it is further north...so the poem was partly in your honor, as a "misery loves company" offering. (Along with that tea and cookies one day!)
And PAJ--I'll even MAKE the cookies (as opposed to buying them) if you come!
I can relate to your feeling. I have been blogging for almost three years and it wasn't until about a year ago that I seriously get meaty comments. I've always felt like I'm typing to a machine (which I am).
Now that I have installed a tracker of my visitors and I see that really there are so many lurkers!
As I was lurking on your site, I was struck by the sheer NUMBER of different authors you have cited at some point. So, of course, I had to count. I didn't count very carefully, so I am probably off by a few, but I counted 276 different authors cited on your site (I almost wrote "cite.") Wow. Does it matter? I don't know. But I am also struck by the wide range of different sorts of authors that you cite. Cool!
Real, homemade cookies? That's a warm thought on a cold day.
CSchu, "the counter," perhaps hints at a reason some of us lurk--you read so much and comment on it with such intelligence (not to mention wit!) that we feel we've nothing to contribute...except accolades. And you're much too modest to want a steady diet of that!
But I resolve to lurk less and comment more.
I really meant that I don't mind people reading and not commenting, as I do it a lot, too, despite the Georgia Nicholson image.
But every once in a while it's nice to leave a comment, even if it's nothing more than "oh, I'll have to read that." That reassures a blogger that she's not just talking to herself.
Do you like the Georgia Nicholson books? I read 4 of them an found them quite enjoyable. The image of a lurker is not something I needed, since the word is used so much in the blog community. Guess I had better speak up from now on ;)
Iris, I do like the Georgia Nicholson books. My daughter discovered them at just the right age (13) and we read them all together. So much of the fun is in the neologisms! And we're also quite partial to the mean-to-everyone-but-her-owner cat, Angus.
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