Frankly Speaking

Google the title of my blog, Frankly Speaking, and I bet you'll be ashamed of me.

What plagiarism? You'd hate to know I copycatted a banal blog title, so over-used by different bloggers around the world. Some of the people who know me and thought I was - and I do claim to be - a remarkably creative person, must be wondering what became of me, if not flat out disappointed in me. They should bear with me.

However, I promise I'll hold no grudge if any of you wrote me off for this. It's something to be ashamed of. But how did I get myself into this mess? How did I, for heaven's sake, go so low as to - not create but - copy (cut and paste) that title for my blog?

As frank as I claim to be, I'll tell you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Right after my first blog posting on 15 February 2009 - my first ever in my well over three decades on earth - I googled my blog title Frankly Speaking hoping to find I was now a must-notice signpost (you know that kind of selfglorification!) on the international superhighway. To my utmost delight, I didn't see the most frustrating notice for an online researcher: "page not found" or "...did not match any documents".

So, to my delight, the google search page was full of more than just a few Frankly Speakings. It's normal to find several references even for the same item on the web, so I stretched my neck towards the computer monitor, to gulp the various references to MY very important blog, I thought to myself.

Yes, most of them were blog titles, some just some online references, but frankly speaking, my freshman blogosphere-bloated ego was summarily deflated to find mine was nowhere to be found. Meaning, not only am I not the only author of a Frankly Speaking blog, I didn't - still don't - count in the number. In fact, to this day, over a week after my blog came to life, I haven't succeeded to access my own blog by simply googling. I have had to type in my complete blog address - franklinbayen.blogspot.com or google "franklinbayen+frankly speaking".

Without which I continue to face a vexing long list of Frankly Speaking blogs by every other Frank in the world except me. Yes, most of the Frankly Speaking blogs are by people called Frank like me. (Frank for me is my first name Franklin for short.) Which name inspired me to coin my newspaper column "FrankTalk" in Weekly Post in 2002, way before Cameroon Tribune launched its periodical centre-spread feature also by that title. I later created a TV talkshow with that title.

Watch out for “Whose Frankly Speaking”? (II)

I mean to be frank with you.