Time to blog

Blog's a funny contraction, isn't it? We don't contract many words by removing letters at the front. 'tis, for it is, and (I am informed) zounds for God's wounds, which is a pretty strange expression, but was very naughty a few centuries ago. I suppose in a few more centuries our own curse words will seem pretty tame to the people of the time, and if Gregory Benford really can invent the cure for old age in the next twenty years, maybe I'll be around to find out. Although since Benford's plan is to breed flies for long lives and then look at their genes to see how they live so long, I'm not holding out too much hope. Really, Benford: flies? But who knows? Unfortunately, since the act of observing affects that which is observed, even if he does do it we won't be able to tell what would have happened to curse words in a few centuries if we hadn't been around to watch. So the whole question is apparently pointless. Which makes it all the more fun to argue about.