Puns welcome in this ‘misbegotten brainchild’ of a contest
Who doesn’t love a slice of deliberately bad writing? Yes, word nerds, gather ’round. It’s time to celebrate the Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest, “where ‘www’ means ‘wretched writers welcome.’” The contest awards the best of the worst opening sentences, or what the...
The best of the Red Jacket Diaries so far in 2019
You know the year is already half over when it’s pool season in Canada. That means it’s time to look back at the most-viewed posts on my Red Jacket Diaries blog so far in 2019. I’m often inspired to blog about what’s going on around me, such as in these posts:...
Dreaming up a new product? Think carefully about the name (ask Kim)
People are upset with Kim Kardashian because she tried to use (and trademark) the name “Kimono” for her new line of “shapewear.” Her plan was to call it Kimono Solutionwear. Apparently, the uproar was enough that she’s already backed down and is giving “careful...
Before & after: Wordy article gets a rewrite
One way to help people understood something is get to the point. Don’t bury your information in too much detail, ramble, or hide the action with passive language. While falling down the rabbit hole of internet links one day, I happened upon an article from 2015 that...
Part 2 of the inside view of employee comms
Having been on the outside of company employee communication for many years, I’ve recently gone looking for the current “inside” view. The June issue of my newsletter, Wordnerdery, continues a series where I report the results. In this issue, I continue to look at...
In the fight for employee attention, mix it up
When it comes to your workplace communication strategy, don’t expect one channel to rule them all. The best bet for success is an approach that mixes up email, a mobile app, social media, face-to-face, intranet and whatever other channels are available. That was the...
Nice try, but this is not a ‘salubrious’ list
Wayne State University in Detroit aims to bring back words “worthy of retrieval from the linguistic closet.” (What a great line!) Thus its Word Warriors produce a list each year of some of the English language’s “most expressive — yet regrettably neglected — words.”...
Trying to clone yourself? There’s a better way to win business
“Solopreneurs” may think we have to clone ourselves to take on more business. We can’t, but that’s the wrong approach anyway. Instead, we should partner with others to create a diverse team with varied skills and experience, which allows us to take on more business...