Interesting fact of the day, which you might know but I did not:

Okay or O.K., according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, dates from 1839, "only survivor of a slang fad in Boston and New York c.1838-9 for abbreviations of common phrases with deliberate, jocular misspellings (cf. K.G. for ‘no go,’ as if spelled ‘know go’); in this case, ‘oll korrect.’"

It’s too bad I’m not a student of linguistics, because I can see a thesis right here on the evolution of this kind of slangy misspelling, from O.K. up through lolcats and lolspeak.

I’ve been diverging from my review-only format for a few reasons. First, and most shameful, I haven’t been reading fiction. Second, I very much enjoy reading the writing-related posts of my LJ friends and of non-LJ blogs like those of izanobu and Scott W. Baker. So although I hesitate to talk about specific stories in a public setting, I thought I might speak more generally about my process.

On the other hand, I don’t want to spam people with narcissistic monologues. I have an aversion to talking about myself that has become increasingly neurotic over time–and yet I know that to form any kind of human relationship, you have to offer part of yourself. In fact, there’s a power in giving up parts of yourself, a dynamic that has nothing to do with traditional ideas of sacrifice and everything to do with charisma and the magnetic force of personality.

But then there’s the tenuous nature of online friend/acquaintance-ships, a certain distance that reminds us that we don’t really know each other, haven’t watched each other’s faces, listened to the rhythm of each other’s voices. However good we are with the written word, words are just one aspect of our entire being. Our written personality can be a distinct entity from our in-person personality. In fact, I feel like it’s a rare writer who can express him/herself in person as well as in the written word–our anti-social roots, perhaps?

My point is, perhaps that distance is a good thing. Perhaps no one really wants to hear about my personal approach to things. So my compromise for now is to put the more personal content behind LJ-cuts. That way you can exercise your own discretion on the ancient and eternal question of knowledge versus blissful ignorance.