Tag Archive for 'SuperForest Vocab'

(image via flickr user dmswart)

Good Morning!

At the end of a post about a trip I’d taken to one of the new Wired stores here in NYC, I asked if there was a word or term to describe the feeling one gets when one has only experienced something digitally, (be it a product, place, or individual,) and then is lightly shocked when the item in question is physically interacted with.

We think we’re ready to test drive a new term: meet shock.

A play on the word “meat,” meet shock is used to describe “the awkwardness inherent in a real life interaction with someone or something you only know from the web.”

Here is the conversation that lead to the sparkly new term:

First,

carla said…

I was actually just thinking about that the other day. Seeing something with just your sense of sight is one thing but to see it in person is something completely different. It is kind of like having a ghost materialize before your very eyes, which yes, would feel quite strange.

Or maybe the ghost and the material object (or person) are two separate entities. The ghost represents that idealistic vision you have of that person or thing. You can’t help it, but that ghost will always be present during that first encounter and that awkwardness is born of your comparison between the ghost and the object/person standing in front of you.

Do we want it to be a verb, adjective, or a noun? Maybe we should start there.

December 7, 2008 11:41 AM

jackson said…

Adjective! Adjective!!!

Yeah yeah yeah!

December 7, 2008 1:16 PM

iman said…

I’d say “transwebward”. A mix of Transition,Web and Awkward. Because you’re going BEYOND (trans-)your WEB relationship and infuse it with AWKWARD.

EX: My transwebward encounter with the shirt I had seen online revealed that it was far too loose fitting.
(Or)
EX: My transwebward meeting with the Superforest team surprised me greatly.

December 7, 2008 1:31 PM

iman said…

Oh! And as the only teenage girl on this team, I think i MUST mention that it sounds like “Edward” from the Twilight saga. haha.

December 7, 2008 1:33 PM

spoon said…

I have one of those Arbor boards! Their stuff is great.

December 7, 2008 10:42 PM

jackson said…

transwebward is good.

Has anyone played Second Life? In SL they refer to the real world as “meat space.” Maybe something along the lines of “meat shock”?

That sounds awful.

But when something makes the leap from purely mental to physical it is definitely jarring. Mostly in a good way.

December 7, 2008 10:59 PM

carla said…

I like transwebward. “Meat shock” is good too. lol I’ve never played Second Life but “meat shock” sounds like something a vegetarian would experience.

And yes, I agree, hopefully all of our transwebward experiences will be full of joy and excitement! :D

December 8, 2008 1:02 AM

carla said…

or instead of meat shock, it could be “meet” shock…a play on words and at the same time, you are meeting (or meating) that object/person for the first time so it kind of works.

December 8, 2008 1:30 AM

jackson said…

Meet shock is brilliant and you are brilliant.

Meet shock.

Amazing.

December 8, 2008 9:56 PM

So, one can go on an internet date and report back to ones friends:

“We totally hit it off. Light meet shock in the beginning, but we got over it.”

Or visit a store and hold a previously coveted item and remark later:

“Man, I checked out the Brunton SolarRoll. Much floppier than I’d expected. Total meet shock.”

Or you can actually turn off your computer, and like, go freerunning in the park with some cat from your Warcraft guild, and then go home and sign back into IM and be all like:

“Lulzzz! HiroSandwitch338 is like 1000 yrs old in real life. Mi5555 shizzzzzzzzz!”

You can say or do any of those things.
We totes understand if you don’t.

Ah ha ha ha!

Love!

Jackson and Team SuperForest