by Sue Horner | Dec 29, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
While celebrating Christmas with family in a small Ontario town this past weekend, I ran across countless examples of misspelled signs, inappropriate use of apostrophes in what should have been plurals, random capitalization of Important Words and other affronts to...
by Sue Horner | Dec 22, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
“It’s the Holiday Season.” This phrase drives me crazy, whether or not it is accented by unnecessary capitalization. Winter is a season; so is spring. Christmas (and the ensuing holiday) is not a season, even though advertising that starts before the...
by Sue Horner | Dec 2, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Here’s some more expressive writing. Love Letter is a public art project in Philadelphia consisting of a series of 50 rooftop murals painted by local and international artists. The project began in August 2009, and is described this way: The murals, which are...
by Sue Horner | Oct 10, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Time for a reminder to be careful out there, as we look at some of the recent errors spotted in our imperfect published world (because, of course, I am perfect and never make any myself)*: …the pictures of the bloggers…don’t wreak of the standard...
by Sue Horner | Sep 12, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Now, this is expressive writing! Other People’s Love Letters: 150 Letters You Were Never Meant to See (edited by Bill Shapiro), which I commented on recently, has many examples of writing that touches the heart. Here are some that appealed to me: “I love...
by Sue Horner | Aug 13, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Here are more great examples of words eloquently or imaginatively written for the enjoyment of readers: “The files holding the data are as thick as unabridged dictionaries.” – Joshua Wolf Shenk in The Atlantic, “What Makes Us Happy?”...
by Sue Horner | Aug 2, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
When interviewing someone for an employee newsletter article, I always ask the meaning of unusual terms, acronyms (a word, like OPEC, formed from the initial letters of other words) and initialisms (a group of initial letters pronounced individually, like CBC). People...
by Sue Horner | Jun 3, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Some great terms, many from BuzzWhack: Menoporsche: Male menopause. Symptoms include a sudden lack of energy, crankiness and the overpowering urge to buy a Porsche. Seagull platform: Generally a break room or common area, where food is left out for employees to eat...
by Sue Horner | May 27, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
I just love finding words eloquently or imaginatively written for the enjoyment of readers. No coincidence, such writing also helps readers visualize what you’re explaining. Here are more examples spotted recently, with my fave parts in bold: “An earthquake will...
by Sue Horner | May 11, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
The sun is shining and it’s a brand new week. Time for a reminder to be careful out there by looking at some of the recent errors spotted in our imperfect published world: “eek out a living” (eke, although I like the frisson of living on the edge...
