Give your company a voice
Whenever something bad happens to a Brit abroad the news item invariably mentions that the hapless individuals have been “offered consular assistance”. Ever wondered what form that assistance actually takes? According to Alan Fairs of the Foreign Office, it means “We’ve told them our phone number” while “receiving consular assistance” means “They’ve spoken to us and been told it’s nothing to do with us. Especially at weekends.”
While on the subject of jargon,
Sometimes it’s good to know we pedants are not alone in our insistence on correct grammar. The residents of the small Minnesota town of Lindström in the US are fighting the US Government for the right to display the two unassuming little dots that should hover above the ‘o’ in their town’s name (yes, an umlaut).
The former hamlet was established in the mid-19th century by Swedish immigrants. When in 2012 the Minnesota Department of Transportation replaced the town’s welcome signs,
You’d think words like ‘baked potato’, ‘citrusy’ and ‘crap shoot’ have been around long enough to gain official acceptance in the Oxford English Dictionary but, surprisingly, according to inbound marketing expert HubSpot, they were among words in everyday use included in the dictionary for the first time in 2014.
Other latecomers to the lexicon are perhaps more understandable, having becoming popular through the influence of social media. We’re talking here about new entrants such as ‘bestie’,
I am indebted to The Times for this correction from a local newspaper in North Yorkshire for showing what poor copywriting looks like:
“We would like to point out that Nat West is closing its Helmsley and Kirkbymoorside branch in Helmsley and not a branch in Helmsley and one in Kirkbymoorside, as stated in the Gazette & Herald last week.
“In fact, the Kirkbymoorside branch of NatWest closed in August and the branch in Helmsley – since renamed the Helmsley and Kirkbymoorside branch – will close on 10 March,” says a spokeswoman.
I’ve been blogging for a couple of years now, sending writing tips and any vaguely grammar-related news stories out into the ether. Thinking about my first post of the New Year, it struck me as being the perfect opportunity to ask what you would like me to write about. So please cast your vote for:
1) Grammar and punctuation tips
2) Writing how-to’s
3) A mix of both topics (as I do now)
The eagle-eyed among you will notice there is no “option 4) Just stop woman!” But seriously,
Sajid Javid, the culture secretary, has revealed he was once the victim of poor translation when a Japanese delegation visited the Treasury. His guests had looked confused when introduced to him and Javid later found out that his job title of economic secretary had been translated as “cheap typist”! It could have been worse though – the department’s permanent secretary was introduced as “the typist with no hope of promotion”.
Amusing diary piece in The Times showing what a difference a space makes: Activists were shocked by reports in the South China Morning Post that protest leaders are to jump ship. Correcting a front page story, the paper admitted it “should have said the co-founders of Occupy Central planned to turn themselves in to police – not turn themselves into police.”
One small space, a huge difference in meaning.
The soaring popularity of selfies has helped usage of the word ‘photobomb’ increase 100% to be judged Word of the Year by compilers of the Collins dictionary. The word, which was first recorded in 2008 as the subject of a Google search, is described as, “Intruding on a person’s photo as it is captured, often in the background of the image. This is often accompanied by rude faces and/ or gestures.”
Rival dictionary publisher Chambers names ‘oversharing’,
A simile makes a direct comparison between two very different things – “memory like a sieve”, “sick as a parrot”, “drunk as a skunk”, “good as gold”…I could go on. Often, but not always, they will use the word ‘like’. For instance, “She goes on and on like a stuck record” or “He has a handshake like a wet fish.” Used sparingly,
Metaphors, similes, hyperbole, alliteration and wordplay are all techniques that, used judiciously, can liven up your writing. I’ll tackle each one of them over the coming weeks but let’s start with metaphors.
You’ll be familiar with expressions such as “It’s raining cats and dogs”, “My son is a couch potato”, “The boss is a dragon”, “His teacher planted the seeds of wisdom” and so on.
