Fundamentals of Interactive Journalism

photo courtesy of NYMag.com

I’ve been having an ongoing e-mail discussion with a professor over the past few days. We’ve been talking about how journalists play an active role in shaping our language, especially in regard to specific terms and phrases. Think words like “beta,” “blogosphere” or “celebutante.”

My professor urged me to think of phrases to share in our next class. Well, as it so happens, I not only thought of one, I believe I have created one.

As you can see by the chart below, Plaxico Burress is not so good with guns. In fact, his inefficiency led to a trip to the hospital, being charged with two felony counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and the ire of one Mayor Bloomberg.

A scientific recreation of Plaxico's fated night

In addition to that, it has earned himself a spot in my Phraseology Hall of Fame. The website 23/6 beat me to the term “plaxident,” which they define as “an act of stupidity that costs you $35 million.”

I think that it may be more effective to make his name a verb: to plaxico. It will take the place of phrases like “you just shot yourself in the foot” or “you just put your foot in your mouth.” Instead, you will simply have plaxicoed yourself.

Funny? Not really. But, in the end, language is about making our lives easier. This one word can take the place of multi-word phrases. And, it has a certain ring to it (eerily similar to the ring of a gunshot in a crowded club).

We’ll see if the prior mentioned professor finds the phrase humorous enough to pardon me when I plaxico myself by submitting my story late on Wednesday.

Or perhaps I just plaxicoed myself right there.