Weisure

Really, CNN? Weisure?

This might be the worst new word ever. Weisure? It's the kind of word that when used in a public setting is likely to incite violence.

And it marks the user as a idiot.

And yet for some reason, CNN, the premiere place for news on the Internet, thinks it's a good idea to inflict Weisure on the world.

The question is this: did they create this new word just to annoy me?

Or did they have some other reason?

This screams "FILLER!!!"

Maybe I shouldn't judge the content just because some idiot made up a stupid word. Perhaps there is some real wisdom hidden in the article behind this typographical monstrosity.

It turns out, there isn't.

Weisure is the combination of work and leisure.

Many who haven't already abandoned the 9-to-5 workday for the 24-7 life of weisure probably will do so soon, according to New York University sociologist Dalton Conley, who coined the word. It's the next step in the evolving work-life culture.

"Increasingly, it's not clear what constitutes work and what constitutes fun," be it "in an office or at home or out in the street," Conley said. Activities and social spaces are becoming work-play ambiguous, he says, as "all of these worlds that were once very distinct are now blurring together."

... More

People work out of the office these days. Sometimes they work from home or take calls on their cell phone. Sometimes they surf the internet from the office.

Thanks for that, CNN. I had no idea. Truly breaking news there.

However, the increased mixing of work and play doesn't mean bankers will be refinancing houses during their kids' piñata parties.

...

It doesn't mean tax attorneys will be getting makeovers during their tax-law seminars. But they may be chatting with Facebook friends while participating in a conference call.

Really? CNN is giving us makeovers in tax seminars?

Maybe we shouldn't call it Weisure. How about calling it Hoffice instead. I can tell you all about my Hoffice life style.

So why is this happening?

Well, first, there's more work and less play, according to Conley's book "Elsewhere, U.S.A."

...

Weisure has been fueled by social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, where "friends" may actually be business partners or work colleagues.

"Social networking as an activity is one of those ambiguous activities," Conley said. "It's part fun and part instrumental in our knowledge economy."

These networking sites offer participants in the weisure life lots of ways to do business -- and to have fun.

Let me translate. People are busy. People like their co-workers.

I'm still waiting for the news in here. Isn't that what one of those CNN "Ns" stands for? So far, the only thing I've learned is that someone thought creating the word Weisure would be a good idea.

Someone also though Love Canal was a good idea.

So will their be a backlash against the new Weisure class?

If you're thinking that a backlash may be around the corner for the weisure concept, you're right. In fact, Conley says, the backlash has begun.

"You can see that in the populist anger against the bankers" who've been blamed in part for the current economic downturn, Conley says. The backlash is evident in the rise of alternative social movements involving people "who live in a more frugal and environmentally conscious way," he says.

But, short of a nuclear winter or some cataclysm sending us back to the stone age, there's no turning back the clock on the spread of weisure, he says. The weisure lifestyle will engrain itself permanently in the American culture.

Seriously? The backlash against people who combine work and leisure is evident because people are angry at banks over the mortgage crises? And the only way to stop Weisure is a nuclear war? That's what they've got? The real backlash against Weisure will be evident in the number of times proponents of the word Weisure get punched in the face for using it.

Honestly, I think I'm dumber for reading that article.