So What's a "Buleocracy"?

While searching for a new name for my blog, I wanted something I felt was fairly clever that also expressed English language concepts you may not be familiar with. First, I knew that I wanted to express that I was a foreigner here in Indonesia. Ok, so I chose the word "bule" to express that I was foreign. Next I thought about English language concepts that could be taught through my title. The word "portmanteau" describes two words which have been combined to form a new word with perhaps a shared meaning. A modern form of slang as an example might be "terribad", a combination of the words terrible and bad. So a buleocracy is a combination of the Indonesian word bule with -cracy, usually an ending associated with governmental functions or concepts. For example, the words "democracy" or "bureaucracy" both relate to government. The idea behind this blog's name then is like literally saying "this is organized by a foreigner".

However, the word is also what we call a "pun". A pun is literally a play on words where the word has multiple meanings or a comparable sound. For example, "visualize whirled peas" is a play on the phrase "visualize world peace". The sounds are similar, so it's intended as a joke. For this blog's name, the idea is that the new word of buleocracy sounds a lot like the word bureaucracy. Puns are often considered a source of mild humor in the English language. Generally, we don't actually consider them funny, but they are sometimes expressed in a mocking fashion. The idea is that I want to express that the blog is fun and is meant to be humorous.

So what will some of you name your blogs? Don't feel as if you have to come up with concept like mine to name your blog. It could be named "Daniel's Blog" or "Daniel's Thoughts" or "Daniel's Diary" and still be just as good. Bloggers often choose a unique or eyecatching name to attract new readership. If you want to blog about a specific issue, try to include that in the name of your blog. For example, if you want to blog about surfing, including something about surfing in the title would be recommended.

What you do with your blogs though is totally up to you!