LOL! The OED gets all inclusive for initialisms
Last week there was a flurry of interest in the announcement by the OED of the latest list of revisions and new words to be included in the dictionary. The main cause of interest was the inclusion of...
View ArticleGetting personal: the curse of Downing Street
Everyone appreciates the personal touch, especially when dealing with big organisations and government. Nowadays, ‘connecting’ and ‘engaging’ with the general public are the guiding principles of...
View ArticleHow PowerPoint can kill a message
PowerPoint has been used in business meetings, classrooms and conferences in one form or another since 1987. It’s the go-to all-purpose presentation tool. Most people have endured the PowerPoint...
View ArticleOpening sentences – so bad they’re good
The annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction contest has found a worthy winner this year in Sue Fondrie, an associate professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Her winning...
View ArticleSpeak with conviction
One of the most interesting discussions to emerge after the ‘riots’ in the UK earlier this month focused on the impact of language. The issue of whether the language that young people speak is a...
View ArticleHelping kids get literate for life
I love this quote: Outside of a dog a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read. Groucho Marx Words, books and reading have been – and still are – an essential part of …...
View ArticleHalloween typography
Now my children are teenagers, I’m beginning to get a bit grumpy about Halloween. When I was young we had parties where we would bob for apples. Today, we’ve imported an American version of Halloween...
View ArticleWhat Words of the Year can tell us
As the end of the year approaches, lexicographers and word nerds start to compile their Word of the Year (WOTY) lists. The WOTY is usually selected to reflect the ethos of the year. Often they are...
View ArticleA celebration of oddness – the 2012 Diagram Prize
One of the quirkiest literary prizes on the publishing scene is the Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year, run by The Bookseller since 1978. I don’t think the prize was run last year but...
View ArticleSorry seems to be the hardest word: or, the art of the non-apology
“Never ruin an apology with an excuse.” ― Benjamin Franklin “Never apologize, mister, it’s a sign of weakness.” ― John Wayne Every once in a while, people in public life have to apologise for something...
View ArticleThe Atlas of True Names: making the familiar seem strange
Did you know that Great Britain can also be called ‘Great Land of The Tattooed’? Not because of the popularity of tattoos in this country. Rather, it’s the name you arrive at if you look deeper into...
View ArticleDiana Nyad: nominative determinism strikes again
On August 31 2013, record-breaking long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad, aged 64, became the first person ever to swim the 110 miles of open water from Havana, Cuba, to Florida. She swam this distance in...
View ArticleThe lost art of letter writing
There’s a generation of young people for whom letters – especially handwritten letters – must seem old-fashioned and quaint. In an age of instant communication via text, emails, Twitter and Facebook,...
View ArticleBringing “Who’s on first?” to life with typography
I love the sound of words and I love looking at words. So, I tend to think that kinetic typography is a wonderful thing. Of course, it must be done well, otherwise it can just get in the way of …...
View ArticleBuffing up on Buffy speak…
I missed the now cult TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer first time around but I’m currently watching my way through the third series with my teenage daughter. Created by writer-director Joss Whedon,...
View ArticleBett Slapper: welcome to the world of spoonerisms
Last week’s arrest in Zurich of seven members of FIFA (football’s world governing body) threw an intense spotlight on the subsequent re-election of FIFA’s president, Sepp Blatter. But amid all the...
View ArticleDecoding the Russian alphabet
A recent trip to St Petersburg in Russia was a delight. I was there at the end of June, during the period of the White Nights, when the sun doesn’t set. It’s a magical time to visit this gorgeous city...
View ArticleThe perils of pronouncing Irish names
I love Irish names with their soft Gaelic sounds. I’m half Irish so when my first daughter was born I wanted to reflect her heritage by giving her an Irish name. We chose Siobhán – a name that...
View ArticleHumanist celebrants celebrate humanity
At the beginning of 2016 I was accepted onto a British Humanist Association (BHA) training programme to become a humanist wedding celebrant. It’s been a fascinating experience and I’m looking forward...
View ArticleCracking wise – the art of the hard-boiled sentence
Writing hard-boiled crime fiction isn’t as easy as it may seem. Although it appears to have a consistent structure, and a heavy emphasis on style, putting the elements together to create truly...
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