Just when you thought it was safe to go out on the information super highway, we are now going to hear about "fisking" - a new word for a usenet-old practice of interweaving replying within the text of what is being discussed, used often in flaming. For the first round of response it is slightly useful as it directly relates a paragraph of response to a paragraph of original statement. It is useless for the next level of response and beyond as it creates a mess.
I hope "to fisk" gains some new meanings - to pointlessly create new words, to confuse a discussion through unnecessary structures...suggestions?
Comments
CMax - August 7, 2003 4:48 PM
Fisking may be related to Fdisk-ing, which can in unskilled hands produce similar disruptiveness. (As in a:> fdisk /mbr) --;)
Dave - August 7, 2003 5:22 PM
It may also be derived from the popular Unix / Linux utility fsck, which checks and repairs a damaged file system
Alan - August 7, 2003 5:34 PM
It verges on "snafu" which dates from WWII US soldiers deeming an acronym to truely reflect what was going on.
AbuIskander - August 8, 2003 11:43 AM
Why do we need a new word for this? I thought <i>interstitial</i> was the term, so to thread interstitial remarks could pleasingly be <i>stitch</i> or even <i>stish</i>.
Alan - August 8, 2003 12:01 PM
Indeed. If you are going to create new language, rest it upon what has come before.