Let’s give a round of applause to Montrealer Allan Wills. He’s managed to exploit two vulnerabilities of the media: their desperation for stories in the summer and their cluelessness about the Internet, to grab his 15 minutes by the gonads. A long package on yesterday’s CTV News, and a Page A3 article in this morning’s Gazette.
His story, basically, is that he put up a website (actually a blog) asking for a wife, and this not-unattractive British girl answered him. Now they’re dating.
Yeah, stop the presses.
Now, if I were a cynic, I might point out that they’re not married, and the focus of the blog has changed from finding a wife to finding an “ultimate date”, and that finding dates online is nothing new (in fact, there’s an entire bloody industry for it), and that quitting your job to go searching for dates is kind of a boneheaded thing to do.
But instead, I will applaud Mr. Wills’s media savvy, wringing his 15 minutes from an uninteresting story about a waste of his time.
(I will also applaud him for his babe of a girlfriend. And with an accent to boot!)
UPDATE July 31: A spot on Canada AM, just in case there were doubts about the non-newsiness. And check out the Daily Mail article on him for more, including pictures of his other hot dates (a redhead!).
Wow. “Twit” is a verb?
Mais oui. Dixit OED:
An act of twitting; a (light) censure or reproach; a taunt.
* 1528 in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1721) I. App. xvii. 38 – Which bookes the sayd Frear dyd litle regard, and made a twyte of it.
* 1664 Etheredge Love in Tub v. v, – Upon Condition that there be no Twits of the Good Man departed.
* 1847 L. Hunt Men, Women & B. II. x. 224 – An occasional twit at him for disappointing her.
Also:
1 trans. To blame, find fault with, censure, reproach, upbraid (a person), esp. in a light or annoying way; to cast an imputation upon; to taunt.
* 1530 Palsgr. 764/2, – I twhyte one, I caste hym in the tethe or in the nose, je luy reprouche. This terme is also northren.
* A. 1553 Udall Royster D. ii. iii. (Arb.) 36 – No man for despite, By worde or by write His felowe to twite.
* 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 127, – I take him very..simpely wittid, That may the second tyme be iustly twittid.
* 1593 Shaks. 2 Hen. VI, iii. i. 178 – Hath he not twit our Soueraigne Lady here With ignominious words..? As if she had suborned some to sweare False allegations.
* 1633 T. Adams Exp. 2 Peter ii. 22 – An Egyptian priest thus twitted Solon, You Grecians are ever Children.
* 1814 D’Israeli Quarrels Auth. (1867) 364 – The Antiquarian Society were twitted as medal-scrapers.
* 1865 Trollope Belton Est. viii, – Anything would be better than being twitted in this way. How can I help it that I am not a man..?