Oh, the irony: ‘Twitter’ used to be whaling slang | The creation of designer Yiying Lu, the “fail whale” has become pretty much iconic among Web geeks.

But the official blog of the New Bedford Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Mass., has informed us all that the word “twitter” was associated with whales long before Evan Williams and Biz Stone were dealing with customer complaints, sort of like how “muggles” was pothead slang decades before “Harry Potter” came along.

“Twitter,” believe it or not, once referred to an obscure piece of sperm whale anatomy that was typically only encountered when whalers were chopping up one of the unfortunate creatures. “ Rest and The Source

Related Give Up Internet Things

• 3% of Twitter’s Servers Dedicated to Justin Bieber said Dustin Curtis, Twitter Employee
• Facebook Problems Today | Photo Uploads Broken and Other Issues [NEWS]
• @aplusk (Ashton Kutcher) Effect on Twitter | Delays when following or unfollowing
• Twitter has stopped displaying what the site’s power users call “@replies” — messages broadcast in public, but directed at a specific user — when the viewer doesn’t also follow the message’s target. Twitter users will still see conversations, but only when they happen entirely within their social circle.
• Facebook tried to buy Twitter. Google and Microsoft have been giving the red-hot Internet-messaging startup the eye. But we hear it’s Apple that’s closest to sealing a deal, possibly for as much as $700 million.
• Barack Obama’s Webheads are getting ready to launch a new Twitter feed for President Change. But the White House already had a Twitter account. It has disappeared down the memory hole.
• Post Messages to Your Twitter Page, From Firefox Address Bar, just type your tweet into your address bar, then hit the Twitter icon to post to your account.
• Some home truths for the clueless “guy” who suggested websites get cinema-like ratings
• Facebook is blocking all Google+ links on their website [VIDEO]
• The USA should invade the USA [PIC]