Re: "his myspace"? "my myspace"?

On Wed, 31 May 2006 15:49:08 +0000, Bob Cunningham wrote:

I think I've learned a new word this morning. In the "Zits" comic strip,
one of the teenagers is saying "He posted it on his myspace".

It appeared that "myspace" might be being used as a synonym of "Web site".

I don't think anyone is using "myspace" as a synonym of "Web site", except
maybe total newbies who happen to have come across _only_ this
particular manifestation of the vast field of individual Web sites.

myspace.com is a Web-based social software platform that
started, I believe, as a showcase site for bands. It is now indeed
extremely popular with teen and college-aged users. I would think that, by
extension, the term "my/his/her myspace" might be used among aficionados
of this kind of thing for personal mini-sites on platforms that are
similarly based on an extensive profile page, buddy lists plus a
journal/photo upload facilities, maybe chat or groups by interests. MSN
Spaces is another, though slightly more bloggish. But I'd be very
surprised to hear it for old-style hand-coded personal sites or home pages.

I wondered how commonly it's used, so I Googled. I now know
there's a
Web site called "myspace.com", which is intended to be a hangout for
teenagers to talk about whatever teenagers like to talk about, but has
become also a hunting ground for sexual predators.

The dangers are, as usual, hugely exaggerated. It would be surprising to
find _any_ collection of millions of users where _nothing_ unpleasant ever
happens, and I have no reason to believe that myspace is any worse than
other platforms.

Chris Waigl
who has just had a talk with a savvy 13 year old about her use of chat &
the Internet in general, and didn't see anything that gave rise to
particular worry. She doesn't have her own myspace yet, though.

--
blog: http://serendipity.lascribe.net/
eggcorns: http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: "his myspace"? "my myspace"?
    ... one of the teenagers is saying "He posted it on ... to their myspace pages? ... was originally a shortening of "his e-mail message". ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: "his myspace"? "my myspace"?
    ... one of the teenagers is saying "He posted it on ... It appeared that "myspace" might be being used as a synonym ... as a synonym of "Web site", ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Vital Signs - A Note to the Wise on MySpace Helps
    ... A Note to the Wise on MySpace Helps ... Teenagers often use social networking sites like MySpace to post ... When teenagers got a note from "Dr. ... Display of Health Risk Behaviors on MySpace by Adolescents (Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine) ...
    (comp.dcom.telecom)
  • Re: "his myspace"? "my myspace"?
    ... one of the teenagers is saying "He posted it on ... It appeared that "myspace" might be being used as a synonym ... I now know there's a Web site called ... So "his" MySpace refers to the area of the MySpace website where ...
    (alt.usage.english)