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Googling blarina brevicauda 930 hits.
Googling blovian brericauda 1 hit.
I could rest my case here, but, wait...
A) As I was scribbling brevicauda and brericauda I noticed a high degree of similarity between the r and the v. Brericauda doesn't rightly mean short-tailed if indeed in means anything. I suspect that the whole thing was a typo/misreading by some transcriber unfamiliar with scientific nomenclature on the level required to catch this kind of mistake.
2) Even if blovian brericauda (or brevicauda) were a proper scientific name, the level of renaissancity required to make the connection to the genus blovian by someone interested in someone's ramblings about the dot com era would be so high as to be vanishingly rare.
And
Þ) Even if we grant someone who would make that connection, the assumption that it was the short life of the shrew that was being alluded to rather than tsuwm's more reasonable shrewishness is somewhat far-fetched.
In short, the assumption that the word blovian would have any other connotation than that of its apparent relative bloviate reeks of obscurantism that, though I, as an accomplished obscurantist, might admire greatly, does not contribute to the recently much maligned communicative function of language.
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veteran
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OP
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In short, the assumption that the word blovian would have any other connotation than that of its apparent relative bloviate reeks of obscurantism I'm getting a "bloviated disk" trying to keep up with all of this. If, as you argue, "blovian" is a misspelling in that Google link tsuwm discovered, at least you aren't accusing me of perpetrating that misspelling. (Or are you?) If its a mistake, I am as much a victim as you are. When you get right down to it, "Bloviate", the word you are defending with such pedagogical rectitude isn't an actual word. My dictionary defines "bloviate" as a "slang word" assuming a "mock latin" form. Hence, even if it were true that "Blovian" is a misspelling (and I don't claim to be an expert on any of the dozens of brands of brericaudras on this planet), "Blovian", misspelling or no, has as much right to exist as the slang word "Bloviate". Quite apart from all of that, aren't we getting a little punctilious about all of this? No-one has given a thought to whether or not the metaphor actually works as a metaphor. Some seem to take more pleasure in eviscerating "Blovian's" internal organs than in reflecting on its external graces. Are we poets here or merely plumbers? In any case, if "Blovian" is a corrupted derivative of the corrupted word "bloviate", or if "Blovian" is a non-existent word masquerading as a slang word which is masquerading, in turn, as a legitimate word, namely, "blow", then isn't this a bit of a "bloviation" in a teapot? 
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Carpal Tunnel
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No-one has given a thought to whether or not the metaphor actually works as a metaphor.
aha! finally you have notched the critical arrow. the point of all this is, perforce, there is no metaphor if Blovian is not a shrew. QED
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the point of all this is, perforce, there is no metaphor if Blovian is not a shrew. QEDeven wusser, it still don't work, since the *point of poetic imagery is to make something more *real by likening to something *known ~ and I'll bet my arse not one person in a thousand knows any bloody meaning of blovian. now can we let the thread go already?!
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"Bloviate" ... isn't an actual word. My dictionary defines "bloviate" as a "slang word"!!! Being slang prevents it from being actual??? No-one has given a thought to whether or not the metaphor actually works as a metaphor.Þ) Even if we grant someone who would make that connection, the assumption that it was the short life of the shrew that was being alluded to rather than tsuwm's more reasonable shrewishness is somewhat far-fetched.
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...the assumption that the word blovian would have any other connotation than that of its apparent relative bloviate... Sounds to me like I said it didn't work as a metaphor. It's a bad metaphor built on a sand castle in the air. And, no, I, for one, never accused you of doing anything wrong on purpose. You didn't coin the word, did you? Incidentally, tsuwm's other three links lead ultimately to nonexistent sites. No primary evidence for blovian as an "actual" word. There was a fifth site found, that of the Saskatoon Star Kleonix (!) and a refernce to the paper's gossip columnist, Francine Blovian. I'll let y'all make up your own minds as to the "actuality" of this paper[sic] (read the copy on the background) and the metaphor suggested by naming a gossip columnist Blovian. http://www.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca/arts/night/NEWSPPS/NOV98.HTM
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Carpal Tunnel
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[blue]now can we let the thread go already?!
[/blue]
Aw, gee, Auntie mav. Argufying bout this kind meaningless junk is what this board's all about.
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thank you mav and F, I was beginning to think I was micturating in the blovia....
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old hand
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Saskatoon Star Kleonix
Ah well, any well-read Canadian would see that is a joke. The real paper being parodied is the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix.
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old hand
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Dear Plutarch, Let's call up the guy who first said " Blovain Vision" and ask him what he meant. Also, we can ask him, to whom was he speaking. There can't be too many guys who use the word "blovian" in their day-to-day speech.
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from Brill's Content online: (you must pay to read) Debunker: Metaphorical Mayhem
In a bid to make the Internet accessible, journalists turned to metaphors that obscured, rather than revealed, the real story.
by By Geoff Lewis
Brills Content Magazine if this is the article in question, I think Mr. Lewis is on to something here.... [oh, and here's the leadin to the article: The Internet stock "bubble" was pumped up with a lot of hot air -- and even more dubious metaphors by the press. A financial reporter parses the words that helped float the "new economy." ]
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