“Amanda Congdon may have had a modern job title — she was a ‘videoblogger’ for ABC News — but she has an old-fashioned conflict of interest. According to Ad Age (3/19/07), she had a sideline hosting a series of what she called ‘infotainmercials’ for the website of the chemical company DuPont.”

I’d heard advertorial and infotainment used to describe the blending of advertising with news and entertainment, but I hadn’t heard of infotainmercials. I find this whole trend disturbing.

Advertisement

Still more new and unattractive language:

“He welcomes their [popular historians’] work … as an antidote to the narrow and often heavily ideological history that comes out of the universities, more often than not in ‘the special language that literary critics now use to separate themselves from the power structure as well as the common herd of us ordinary readers: “interpellation,” “exfoliation,” “ambiguation,” “valorized,” “intellection,” “narrativized” and “meta” this and “meta” that.’ ”

Advertisement

By reading popular history, I’ve managed to avoid most of these, but meta- is spilling over into other contexts. “The piece on lobbyists, he and his editor insist, was not just done to investigate the particular lobbying firms, but to reawaken journalists to the power of undercover reporting. ‘There was this meta level in the planning that asked, “How will the journalism establishment react?” ‘ Harper’s editor Roger Hodge told a reporter.”

It’s a prefix that means, according to Random House, “after, along with, beyond, among, behind.”

Advertisement

From The Word Detective, a column by Evan Morris about etymology and life:

“Why is it that you never run into people with the same last names as truly famous writers? Have you ever met a Poe? A Thackeray? Even a Mailer or a Vidal? Anyone out there know a Tiffany Yeats, a Larry Keats or a Billy Bob Longfellow? Am I the only one who finds this odd?”

Advertisement

He’s probably heard from Brittany Coleridge by now, but let us note that many people in Little Rock have met a Poe — Fred, of the Poe Travel Agency. And his children, too.

Help to Keep Great Journalism Alive in Arkansas

Join the fight for truth and become a subscriber of the Arkansas Times. We've been battling powerful forces for 50 years through our tough, determined, and feisty journalism. With over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts, our readers value great journalism. But we need your help to do even more. By subscribing and supporting our efforts, you'll not only have access to all of our articles, but you'll also be helping us hire more writers to expand our coverage. Together, we can continue to hold the powerful accountable and bring important stories to light. Subscribe now or donate for as little as $1 and be a part of the Arkansas Times community.

Previous article The severance tax aftermath Next article Word on the street