From the Editor's Desk: The alternative Android dictionary

?One of our greatest features at Android Central is the Android Dictionary, an ever-evolving list of frequently used terms. But did you know there's a second, secret blogging dictionary? He's a peek inside:

• Benchmarks: A great way to confuse folks over which phone is "better" while simultaneously generating page views. Winning!
• [Brackets]: Used to explain a headline that's not particularly good. Often used to point out that something is supposed to be [funny] or [humor] -- and chances are it's neither.
• BREAKING NEWS!!!: The kind of news that just happened!!! And is important!!! Really important!!! So important all capital letters and exclamation marks are probably warranted!!! Also a great way to sex up a story without having to write a good headline.
• Coming soon: We actually have no friggin' idea when it's coming. But if we say "coming soon," it makes it look like we know when it's coming. We're mysterious like that.
• Developing ...: Putting this at the end of a post makes it look like we're doing important investigative work when really we're finishing an Angry Birds level or two.
• Exclusive: Someone sent us something. We saved it, watermarked it and put it on a webpage, then spent the rest of the day crowing about it in IRC. (Alt. definition: Actual hard work put into an original story.)
• Fragmentation: A story to be written quarterly reminding people you really don't understand how Android works as a platform.
• Imminent: Really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really soon. Maybe. (See Coming soon.)
• Nexus: Better.
• Official: Used in headlines to point out that a story is different than the endless miles of published crap that has no chance of ever coming true.
• Patent stories: A great way to show that 99 percent of us are not and never should be a lawyer.
• Reached out: A flouncy way of saying you took 15 seconds out of your otherwise busy reblogging day to send a single e-mail. And, no, you didn't wait for a response before publishing.
• Rooted: Better.
• Stock: Better.
• Tip @techmeme: A great way to let the tech community know you successfully rewrote a press release. Good job!
• Unboxing: Wherein we pretend to be surprised to find a phone, earbuds, cable, charger and documentation inside a box from a carrier or manufacturer. Usually recorded on video and presented in grand fashion. May include schoolgirl-like giggling.
• Watermark: A site's logo placed on top of its images to remind folks that they're visiting the site that they're visiting. A watermark's size should in no way be used to determine a site's importance. (But if you were to do so, the formula is W [HxW] x [number of writers²] x [number of improperly labeled exclusives])

That's just a snippet of how things really work on the Internets. Hope you enjoyed this peek behind the curtain.

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