The importance of appearing educated

An article today on AdAge bemoans the continual loss of correct spelling and grammar from everything from personal messages to resumés to professional documents. I’ve found this to be quite the touchy subject since typically people don’t like to be corrected, especially on things like spelling and grammar which are often seen as rather petty subjects. [...]

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PR message not received

The recent 3-hour closure of Starbucks stores around the country was intended to show consumers that the chain was dedicated to improving the quality of their beverages. As a PR effort, one would think it was highly successful, since news and media picked up the story and made sure that everyone knew they wouldn’t be [...]

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The word game

Ever work for a company whose main goal, it seems, is to sell itself on a pile of words that actually don’t mean anything at all? Communications, digital, solutions, marketing, strategies… seriously. What company is going to tell its customers that they do NOT offer solutions? Instead these words are tossed around interchangeably in a [...]

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Innocuous X

Do you think about the letter “x” very often? Do you notice when it crops up in conversation, slang, product names, entertainment? Do you consider the meaning of this well-used but oft-forgotten letter? For most people, not unless X is the letter of the day on Sesame Street and they have a 2-year-old.
However, David [...]

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Stupid advertising copy

Some advertising seems to have a language of its own, intended to convince, connive, cajole and otherwise fool its readers into buying into the brand. Some of these little tricks are the kinds of things that stick in my brain and bug me until I figure them out enough to be able to scoff at [...]

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