November 21, 2003

A READER WHO IS NEW TO THE BLOGOSPHERE WRITES:

I must have missed the incident that caused the term "fisking" to be coined. I'm sure it was an approach to "analysis" of something news, policy, etc. performed by Mr. Fisk--whose first name escapes me--who was (a lawyer?) in the Clinton administration. Your help would be appreciated.

Wrong Fisk. I like this definition:

fisking: n.
[blogosphere; very common] A point-by-point refutation of a blog entry or (especially) news story. A really stylish fisking is witty, logical, sarcastic and ruthlessly factual; flaming or handwaving is considered poor form. Named after Robert Fisk, a British journalist who was a frequent (and deserving) early target of such treatment. See also MiSTing, anti-idiotarianism.

There's also this one:

Fisk
verb. To deconstruct an article on a point by point basis in a highly critical manner. Derived from the name of journalist Robert Fisk, a frequent target of such critical articles in the blogosphere (qv).

So there you are. A recent article in The Spectator misused the term, suggesting that "Fisking" is something that Robert Fisk does. That's not the standard usage, though.