The case of an English woman sacked for blogging about her life in France presented a chance for lovers of web neologisms to dust off the word “dooced” last week. It means to be sacked for blogging, apparently. The term arises from the sorry tale of Heather Armstrong, who was fired from a plum design job in 2002 for comments posted on her blog, dooce.com. Wisely, Armstrong later called her actions “STUPID”, but ex-pat Catherine Sanderson, centre of the current case, seems less inclined to admit any fault and is seeking compensation. Personally, Sneak wants to be compensated for mental anguish caused by reading her blog, Petite Anglaise. There’s a whiff of self-aggrandisement about all blogs (except Sneak’s, obviously) but Petite Anglaise stands out even among the tripe that fills the blog-o-trough. Henceforth, when Sneak stumbles across a weblog that is truly, toe-curlingly self-indulgent, Sneak will say, “Hmm, it’s a bit PA, isn’t it?”

28 Jul 2006