the official unauthorized blog for oneword.com

or, the unofficial authorized blog for oneword.com™

  • Do You Follow?

    • 6 Feb 2011
    • 4 Responses
    •  views
    • facebook follow oneword.com social media tweet twitter unfollow
    • Edit
    • Delete
    • Tags
    • Autopost

    Tweets
    For about a year, oneword's twitter account followed no one and was just used to alert people that a new word was up, and an occasional message. Then somewhere I read that the more people you follow, the more people will follow you, so I went and followed all of the people that followed oneword (maybe 700 at the time).

    This was a mistake.

    Not that I don't want to know that a particular oneword fan is excited to get her new Katy Perry-inspired tattoo. Seriously. That was a tweet I saw tonight. Nor do I want to know that someone's baby just went poo in her Uggs. And I certainly don't care about any sports event. Ever. On Earth.

    The whole point of Twitter is to follow people that you either know personally, or you are a fan of. I feel like I'm invading your privacy knowing that you're at Popeye's Chicken with Jeff. Or even your fascinating "Time for bed..." or "I'm tired." tweets.

    So I've begun un-following people. You probably won't notice anyway, but if you do notice that I'm no longer following you—

    it's nothing personal. That's the whole point.

    • Tweet

  • Dry T-shirt Contest. (oneword.com's Annual T-shirt Design Contest.)

    • 5 Jan 2011
    • 4 Responses
    •  views
    • contest design dry t-shirt oneword oneword.com t-shirt win
    • Edit
    • Delete
    • Tags
    • Autopost

    Drytshirtbanner
    Has it been a year already? Or have we never done this before? If not, we should have.

    I'm a designer. What do I do?

    1. Design a shirt
    2. Tweet your design with the hashtag #drytshirt or post to our Facebook page
    3. Feel awesome

    Or, if you're not a tweeter, twitterer, or just hate birds altogether, send a jpg of your design to:

    drytshirt [at] oneword.com

    Are there rules or a style guide?

    • minimal is good
    • feel free to incorporate the "go" logo (here are vector and hi-res files)
      (not required though)
    • would prefer "oneword.com" to be included, but are open to your creative genius
    • don't worry about adhering to oneword.com's current color palette
    • have fun

    What do I win?

    • a percentage of the proceeds from t-shirt sales
    • the respect of friends, family, and colleagues
    • bragging rights

    Does the fun ever end?

    • No, but submissions are due by March 1, 2011.

     

    • Tweet

  • Pro-intelligent.

    • 16 Dec 2010
    • 0 Responses
    •  views
    • anti-stupid expression oneword.com pro-intelligent writing
    • Edit
    • Delete
    • Tags
    • Autopost

    In an earlier post, I had mentioned being anti-stupid.

    This was in response to multiple (some harsh and rude) allegations of the site being against freedom of speech. This, to me, is not only comical—but the antithesis of oneword.

    Rather than being anti-stupid, I would like to offer a revised, more accurate statement:

    oneword.com is pro-intelligent

    The kid who sprays a litany of racial slurs, or pastes "your mom has sex with horses" a thousand times, is intelligent. Somewhere in there. Deep down.

    Everyone has the capacity to act stupid, though it's just that—an act. And usually one of insecurity; of being afraid to truly express themselves. And, if anything, that's what oneword.com is all about: expression.

    Yes, pro-intelligent, is the [compound] word of the day, and here's to shining a light on the brilliance inherent in everyone, in hopes that others—and, importantly, you—will see it, and be it.

    • Tweet

  • The Kids Are All Write.

    • 26 Oct 2010
    • 0 Responses
    •  views
    • expression freedom of speech oneword oneword.com profanity teaching writing
    • Edit
    • Delete
    • Tags
    • Autopost

    Over the years, I've received numerous inquiries from teachers wanting to use oneword.com in their writing classes. Explaining that "they would use it now, but there's no profanity filter." 

I respond cordially. But my gut response is, "fuck that."

    Interesting that a four-letter word or picture of naked human bodies throws everyone into an upheaval. Meanwhile, kids are in their classrooms getting A's and B-pluses for knowing the intimate details of every mass slaughter in recorded history. 

    Humans have been repressing sexuality and killing in the name of one God or another for centuries, and guess what? We're still at war. We've barely evolved. Thankfully, technology has evolved to a point where free expression is fast becoming the order of the day. And when it reaches the point where free expression outweighs the repression—there will be a tipping point—in which expression is inspired less and less by a reaction to repression, and is pure. 

At that point we may have to create a brand-new word for it.

     

    • Tweet

  • About

    Purveyor of fine words.
    Creative Director at Artifact Studios.
    Creator of oneword.com.

    41284 Views

  • Archive

    • 2012 (2)
      • February (2)
    • 2011 (33)
      • October (1)
      • June (1)
      • May (1)
      • April (2)
      • March (12)
      • February (4)
      • January (12)
    • 2010 (35)
      • December (12)
      • October (1)
      • March (2)
      • February (10)
      • January (10)
    • 2009 (6)
      • December (3)
      • September (1)
      • June (1)
      • May (1)

    Get Updates

    Subscribe via RSS
    Twitter