Lex Ferenda

Last week, I read this Guardian story about Internet use habits. It was based on a relatively silly piece of research (carried out by YouGov for a money website, to get some cheap publicity I think…although the funders express surprise at the coverage), but what struck me was the word ‘wilfing’ (or ‘to wilf’) - apparently derived from ‘what was I looking for’. Technically that should be wwilf, but never mind. Anyway, it struck me that I had never heard it before, but it was a nice word. Apparently Scottish people are the biggest wilfers.

Anyway, it turns out that the researchers may well have made it up. (Fun debate at Wikipedia) That, in itself, wouldn’t be a problem - the annoying thing is the attempt to pretend that it was a preexisting, ‘cool’ word. Of course, survey research can involve the creation of a word, acronym or term (entire books and theories are based around such), but there really is no need to pretend, is there? A Google News search shows no mention prior to this particular press release; it’s never been mentioned in Usenet (other than for people called Wilf or Wilfing).

On the other hand, the Urban Dictionary has a series of defintions (with sexual connotations, of course!) that predate this article. I wonder if that’s deliberate?

Anyway, much as random, silly websites are great fun, let us not forget the role of random, silly and extremely obsessive books. Today, we see the results of the ‘oddest title of the year’ competition (via the Guardian again): The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification. (And they can’t resist the caption that the book is a ‘runaway success’. Eek)

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