We do so enjoy calling one another names here at Blurb – on staff we’ve got an Admiral, Cap’n Scrappy, and the Leshnatic, thanks largely to Alysha – and sometimes, there’s a pseudo-scientific method to our etymological madness.
As many of you smarties have already figured out, the term used for Blurb employees is a contraction of Blurb and literati, from the Latin term describing “persons interested in literature.” But as a concept, Blurberati is inspired less by ancient Rome than ancient China, where local literati developed an artistic style called wenrenhua (meaning literally “culture+human+expression”) that valued personal expression above all else. Borrowing a page from these sages, the Blurberati have developed a technology that values (you guessed it) personal expression above all else – only BookSmart™ is less of a tongue-twister than wenrenhua (say it five times fast, and you’ll see what I mean).
Blurbarian borrows its suffix from that VIP of books, the librarian, a.k.a. “person responsible for a collection of specialized or technical information or materials.” Specialized information, indeed: who besides a librarian knows to look for love between Love Canal and loss of consciousness? But every person has a whole collection of photos, blogs, and other material just waiting to become books – which makes you, my friend, a Blurbarian.
You’re in good company: even librarians are becoming Blurbarians these days … does that make them Blibrarians? And thanks to our German friends, Blurbarian can now be described as angemeldetes Mitglied bei blurb.
But hey, you tell us what makes a Blurbarian… comments and backsass welcome.
One Trackback
[...] Last night, Chad (Cap’n Scrappy) and I had the pleasure of attending Revenge of the Bookeaters, a benefit show for 826 Valenica. The San Francisco show at the Palace of Fine Arts included Patton Oswalt, Zach Rogue, Aimee Mann, Jonathan Richman, Mark Kozelek, Dave Eggers, and Sarah Vowell. These events have been happening all over the country and promise to be “Shows That Ask the Eternal Question: Words or Music—Which is Better?” [...]