That’s something anyway.

According to my copy of AMERICAN SLANG and several other of my slang research books, “nookie” or “nooky” came into use in England in the 1880s and gained popularity in America in the 1920s.

Most people think of the Victorians as prudes, but a majority of our sexual slang comes from that period.

“Nook E-reader”…
Yeah, that does induce the odd giggle…

“No, nobody mentioned it. It would have been in rather bad taste to bring it up.”

“No, nobody mentioned it. It would have been in rather bad taste to bring it up.”

Did anyone ask about the name and what was the response, other than blushing cheeks?

But MB, we live in a world of sex-crazed hormone-fueld teenagers too (not to mention the rest of us!) and that was just a poor choice of words. But then again, nobody cottoned to Google when that word first came out, and nobody cottoned to Kleenex when that first came out, and nobody liked Kindle when that word was first announced, so maybe you are right, NOOK will catch on slowly, step by step, dirty minds be damned!

But still, $100,000 to pay someone to come up with that name? Why not just call it The Barn…..? Has a nice ring to it, no? Send the check BN ty my cave in Taiwan at PO BOX, oh, forget it, NOOK it is!

And to think they paid some corporate name/logo artist like the guy who named the Kindle around US$100,000 or more, just for a name, and a rather sexual name like NOOK, aka Nookie, “let’s have some nookie tonight, Honey!” — how could BN be so “in the dark” on this?

Sure, breakfast nook, attic nook, as an architectural term, it’s nice and comfy and homey….a good place to curl up with a book, er, e-book, so one level, it is a great name, perfect name, and since BN already has their Book Nook club, it makes inhouse sense.

But BN, there’s a big world out there, and Jay Leno and David Letterman are gonna have a field day with this. I only have one word to say: oi

In the American South, we usually pair the word with cranny– “I have looked in every nook and cranny for my car keys.”

As of now, TTS is considered a right by most people in publishing. Those who disagree don’t think its valuable is enough to take the issue to court to decide.

Publishers, unless they specify that right in their contract with their authors, can’t allow its use.

If a publisher allows TTS or some other right that haven’t contracted to be used, they are stealing. If someone else takes this right without the author or publisher’s agreement, they are stealing.

The Author’s Guild attack on Amazon over this issue and Amazon’s backing away from a legal fight proves that this is a real issue, but it isn’t a financially valuable enough issue to be worth a court fight.

In other words, the legal folks define this issue, and what we say or don’t say here doesn’t matter unless we take someone to court about the issue.

Byerly isn’t that common a name. I am one of the few authors at Amazon, for example, with that last name.

My brother, Dr. William Boyce Byerly, has taught at several universities and is currently developing some specialized courses on computer and Internet subjects for a university. My SIL, Dr. Ingrid Byerly, teaches at Duke and UNC in musical anthropology. I have taught at several place, and I currently teach writing online.

What I don’t like is that they will restrict the device to just one store. In the end the customers will vote and we’ll find out what approach is best.

It’s so early in the development in this industry it’s hard to know where we will end up. My feeling is in the end competing technologies to e-ink will result in every device being a ereader and trying to be “proprietary” will be a losing battle.

That is, unless someone become dominant before the competing tech is widespread.

Clint Brauer
General Manager
http://www.cyberread.com

For example, did you ever find yourself trying to explain to a ‘joe six-pack’ why Broadband was so much better than dialup — beyond just: “it’s faster”?

I hear about the Kindle2′s TTS, and thought, ‘meh’. I thought it’s easy to do, so you might as well include it, but I also thought it was something I would never use.

However, as someone who just doesn’t like to put a book down I can tell you it is game changing. I still prefer to read, but now I can listen when I drive the car, when I’m at the gym, or when I’m walking in the dark. And then, I can settle down to the couch and go right back to reading at the spot where the TTS ended.

In regard to TTS, yes, it is rather subjective, and there are uncertainties, but from the perspective of both a reader and a writer, I see advantages in letting people do what they want for their own private use. I certainly think Amazon has the resources to go to court to get this clarified, or at least to lobby for clarifying legislation.

Thanks, and hang around, whether you agree or disagree with us on TTS!

David

P.S. You didn’t have a father or uncle who lived in Montana and North Carolina, did you? I don’t know how common “Byerly” is, but a fave prof of mine had that last name.