The Joys of Blocking People
Choire Sicha on the joys of blocking people on Twitter.
I know a guy, a serious reporter and a grown adult, who, when he finds out that people have unfollowed him, blocks each and every one of them permanently, as a matter of course. It’s genius! I don’t really know why he uses Twitter in this way, it’s not my cup of tea, but I think it’s terrific! Making people DEAD TO YOU is so important.
A few months ago I deleted Birdbrain from my phone and mostly stopped caring about Twitter. I’ve been much happier since. (Related: Also happier since I turned off blog comments here.) That being said, I now regret not going in the complete opposite direction as described above.
Cross posted from http://bit.ly/HbC4yg
The Awl 2011 Song List
The Awl’s best favourite songs of 2011.
Do we owe Paris Hilton an apology?
I know, I know: why in the world should we have any sympathy for Paris Hilton? After all, she seemed to come through it fine, and is still just being Paris. Thing is, though, at the time all of this hit, she was a 22-year-old girl going out and getting drunk and doing drugs and sleeping around—which, unless you are lame, is exactly what you were doing when you were 22. The problem with Paris wasn’t Paris, it was the amount of attention the media paid to Paris.
What it’s really like to be a copy editor.
The word is douche bag. Douche space bag. People will insist that it’s one closed-up word—douchebag—but they are wrong. When you cite the dictionary as proof of the division, they will tell you that the entry refers to a product women use to clean themselves and not the guy who thinks it’s impressive to drop $300 on a bottle of vodka. You will calmly point out that, actually, the definition in Merriam-Webster is “an unattractive or offensive person” and not a reference to Summer’s Eve. They will then choose to ignore you and write it as one word anyway.
