Is “Said” Dead? Evidently some teachers think it should be. A recent article in The Wall Street Journal reported that some teachers were trying to purge their students’ compositions of words deemed vague or dull. As the Journal notes: “The goal is livelier writing. The result can be confusion.” The reason? For one thing, some […]
Engagement Marketing for Non-Profit Organizations
We hear a lot about engaging with our customers and other “constitutents.” The trick is to know how to engage in an effective and sustainable manner. A recent webinar “Beyond the Campaign: Engagement Marketing for Non-Profit Organizations” gave some practical tips for such engagement. The webinar was presented by Outmarket and featured Lori Wizdo, principal […]
Words of the Year
I love this time of the year, when various groups name the word (or words) of the year. This year’s crop is a diverse lot. In a first, the Global Language Monitor (GLM) named the heart emoji as the most popular “word” of the year. The decision was based on an analysis of blogs, Twitter, […]
Word Play Masters
Word Play Masters does a contest each year whereby people take a word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting or changing one letter, and then supply a new definition. The organizers regularly post entries so we can enjoy the creativity all year long. Here are some of my favorites so far this year: […]
Stupid Directions
A friend sent these, which are supposed to be actual instructions on these products. Enjoy. On a Sears hairdryer “Do not use while sleeping.” (And that’s the only time I have to work on my hair.) On a bag of Fritos “You could be a winner! No purchase necessary. Details inside.” (The shoplifter’s special?) On […]
List of Banished Words
Michigan’s Lake Superior University just released its list of “banished words.” The world would probably be better off if we could banish some of these. Here’s a partial list: Selfie Twerk, twerking Hashtag Twittersphere Mr. Mom T-bone ______on steroids In a special category for politics, the list also includes “Obamacare” and “intellectually/morally bankrupt” (“used by […]
