Meta Meta Meta

From Ashley Parker’s Sunday NYT piece (Style!) on the Florida Avenue Bloggers’ Lair (link):

Sometimes, Mr. Capps will send an instant message to signal when dinner is ready. Or, as Becks explained, “We’ll all be in the same room having meta-conversations online about conversations going on in the room, a running commentary on the other conversations.”

Let’s review the bidding: there’s a conversation. Becks is conversing about the conversation. Parker is conversing about Becks. And now I am conversing about Parker.

May I be excused if I recall the last scene of Midsummer Night’s Dream, where the rude mechanicals are performing a play, watched by the King and Queen, watched by the fairies, watched by us?

Oh, right. And now you are watching, too.