Wordlab

This item from today’s New York Times “What’s Online” column, Click if You Read This Column:

Saving Your Bacn Over the last week, a new Web 2.0 buzzword was born: “bacn.” Bacn is not spam; rather, it refers to messages — e-mail newsletters, Facebook friend requests, Twitter updates and the like — that are wanted but not needed. “Notifications you want. But not right now,” is the blogger Andy Quayle’s succinct definition (techburgh.com).

By most accounts, the term was coined — or at least gained traction — during last weekend’s PodCamp Pittsburgh event (podcamppittsburgh.com).

On his blog, Eric Skiff offers possible solutions, which amount to smart e-mail filtering and personal discipline. “Once or twice a day while I’m taking a ‘brain break’ I’ll flip through my labels and take care of any pending friend requests, comments, and any other bacn that’s come in during the day,” he writes (glitchnyc.com).

Already, a Web site, bacn2.com, has appeared to help “spread awareness” of bacn and to help people cope.

As bacn proliferates, it will likely become the new spam, making the whole idea of “bringing home the bacn” much less appealing.

Read/WriteWeb has nominated ten of the worst web application names, including Fairtilizer, Profilactic, Gravee, Licketyship, Oyogi, Layoffspace, iStalkr, Agester, Hooka, and Qoop.

NewTeeVee (which didn’t make that list) has its own list of the top ten abominations of web video lingo.