Two Sniglets

Anyone remember Sniglets, you know, from back in the ‘80s?  They were words that should be in the dictionary, but aren’t.  So, for example, “execuglide” is using a wheeled office chair to move from one part of the room to the other.  Lately, I have two recent concepts that I feel need to be snigletted (is that a verb?), but haven’t come up with the right term yet.  Both of these instances, however, engender similar feelings.

 

The first concerns mapquest.  Now, ordinarily, I love mapquest, which is such a huge improvement over calling for directions.  I say that, but every now and again, mapquest will give you a set of directions that is completely, utterly, totally wrong.  And, because the service is normally is so good, you’re not expecting it, and often don’t have a map handy just as you take the wrong turn.  Let’s just say that you can get really, really lost this way (especially, say if you just moved to California and you’re in San Francisco and don’t know where you are going).

 

The second concept has to do with SSRN.  You’re working on an article, something that’s timely, fairly recent, and are plugging away at it.  You’ve done the standard preemption checks and literature search and have reached the conclusion that no one else has already taken the topic.  And then, viola, forty pages in, you check SSRN, and guess what?  Someone has developed “your” idea, and it certainly was a good one, cause hey, it’s going to appear in the NYU law review!