WRONG: "It's a term for a new generation of web sites and web applications that use fluid or 'dynamic' pages, compile user-made content (like videos, photos, or blog posts) instead of content from a few paid contributors, and keep more information stored on a server than on the user's computer."

RIGHT: First, roll your eyes and sigh deeply (RYEASD). Then: "Oh god, I know, aren't you sick of hearing that word for the last three years?" This works especially well when the questioner clearly just saw the term pop up on Saturday Night Live.

Oops.

And this part:

Say "meta" a lot. Do it in an apologetic way, like a hipster admitting that she still listens to Modest Mouse even though they're on the radio now. Take photos of other people taking photos (and yourself in the mirror), blog about blogs, and practice recursive activity until you suck the reality out of your life and are numb to the world around you. Afterward, say "Ohmygod, that was so meta!"

Hmm. Is Element List meta? Oh, crap. Admitting you're meta is like saying you're a hipster. No one admits to being a hipster even if you are a hipster. I haven't listened to Modest Mouse since I stopped hanging out with that chick in Williamsburg and .... This is getting even worse.

Now I'm getting crap from the very nice people who put on the Science Blogging Conference and wrote the book of science blog posts which I snarked at for being meta (so meta!).

But no, wait. It's not about this science blog book. It's about the larger trend of print publications turning their sights on the web and keeping them there, because lately the web is the news and news will always travel faster over the web than it will if it has to be printed, bound, and shipped somewhere. This is the tipping point. The tipping point has occurred when websites are no longer little siblings to their old school print houses, but instead are gaining advertisers while newspapers, magazines, and books are increasingly seen as huge resource hogs.

So, now, what do you call a print publication that covers news on the web?

Retro-meta.

[Image Credit: Mike Monteiro - It's a t-shirt!]