On Words and Business

Check out this year’s List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness.

Those I truly hope will never be used again:

• Tweet
• Stimulus
• Bromance
• Chillaxin’

Movable type - 1040

Printing press - 1454

Dot matrix printer - 1970

A format in which words do not have to be printed to be read - The present

A format currently only imagined? - The future

If you haven’t heard about Scott Ginsberg, you should find out about him. He’s the nametag guy (he wears it 24/7), and has great ideas and suggestions for networking and helping people get to know the real you. Plus, he’s interesting.

As an example, here are two blog posts on things you should never apologize for–part 1 (1-37) and part 2 (38-79).

My favorites:

• 5. Never apologize for asking questions.
• 18. Never apologize for disagreeing.
• 23. Never apologize for giving it your best shot.
• 27. Never apologize for lack of information.
• 30. Never apologize for looking out for yourself.
• 54. Never apologize for thinking something was possible.
• 71. Never apologize for your happines.
• 76. Never apologize for your pricing.

From the post Marketing Tip of the Day: Never Say “Very” by Dave Kellogg

• It makes your writing seem like puffery
• It transfers the meaning away from the very thing you are trying to highlight
• It may lead to unsupported or illogical claims
• It can overposition your product or service

That’s all very, very true, n’est-ce pas?

Hmm, I wonder how these things are decided.

For October 1…

Dictionary.com: adjuvant

Merriam-Westster: pukka

Wordsmith.org: expediency

New York Times: rectilinear

UrbanDictionary.com: restless lip syndrome

OED: refresher

Like many folks last week, I spent quite a bit of time watching and reading news about Ted Kennedy. I even had the honor of standing on a Boston sidewalk and watching his motorcade pass by. It was an unexpectedly moving experience.

On Saturday, I watched the funeral proceedings on t.v. Prior to going to the church, there was a final service at the JFK Library. It was televised. Throughout, the newscasters kept reminding viewers that we were watching a private service being held at the library.

This got me thinking…what on earth do we mean by privacy anymore?

I don’t classify as private an event with television cameras in the room, set up specifically to broadcast that event, and then aired on television.  Perhaps they meant that the event was invitation only, i.e., not open to the public. However the funeral was also invitation only and closed to the public, but not once did a newscaster suggest that the event was private. So why that categorization, for that event?

Just wondering if anyone knows where the line is any more.