This will be the last post here as I have migrated this blog over to a new website - www.havingaword.com.
Do click on the link and check it out. I will continue to blog about words and language on the blog there.
I'd like to thank everyone who has visited this site and look forward to continuing the conversation either on my new blog/website, or on twitter (feel free to follow me on @suewalder), or even by connecting with you on LinkedIn (http://uk.linkedin.com/in/suewalder).
As Groucho Marx once said: "Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana".
May your time be fruitful!
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Getting 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 communications professionals everywhere.
And yet striking the right personal note is not as easy as you'd think. And regardless of which political party is in power, writing letters from Downing Street seems to be particularly fraught with difficulty.
Much was made by the media recently of the fact that Downing Street had been sending out letters signed by fictional staff with computer-generated names. This had been standard practice since 2005 after a member of staff from Number 10 was threatened outside her home. Clearly, it was assumed that people like to get word-processed letters with a personal, handwritten signature and the decision was made to use false names.
The truth only emerged after Labour MP Gerald Kaufamn, tried to contact a 'Mrs E Adams', who had signed a letter he had received. Staff at the Downing Street office had to admit she didn't exist.
From now on, no more false names will be used by the Downing Street office. I wonder how letters from staff will be signed off in future?
Two years ago, beleaguered Prime Minister Gordon Brown was accused of being disrespectful to the grieving mother of a soldier who had been killed by a bomb in Afghanistan. What had he done? He had sent her a handwritten note to offer his personal condolences.
Unfortunately he had initially misspelled the son's name and corrected it rather than starting afresh. Also, his handwriting was deemed a hastily-scrawled "insult". In all, The Sun found 20 mistakes, including writing the letter "i" incorrectly 18 times.
Gordon Brown was forced onto the defensive and had to apologise to the mother, Jacquie Janes (not James, as Gordon had written), by telephone.
Even allowing for Gordon Brown's poor eyesight, it seems hard to believe that no-one at Number 10 intervened to suggest he should bin his first attempt and try again. As Robert Crampton wrote in The Times, "Gordon Brown screwed up by not screwing it up."
Of course, this would never have happened to fictional President Bartlett, of US TV series The West Wing. Whenever the storyline included the death of a member of the armed forces, President Bartlett always made a personal call to the next of kin - a truly personal touch.
We non-fictional humans are so hard to please.
And yet striking the right personal note is not as easy as you'd think. And regardless of which political party is in power, writing letters from Downing Street seems to be particularly fraught with difficulty.
Much was made by the media recently of the fact that Downing Street had been sending out letters signed by fictional staff with computer-generated names. This had been standard practice since 2005 after a member of staff from Number 10 was threatened outside her home. Clearly, it was assumed that people like to get word-processed letters with a personal, handwritten signature and the decision was made to use false names.
The truth only emerged after Labour MP Gerald Kaufamn, tried to contact a 'Mrs E Adams', who had signed a letter he had received. Staff at the Downing Street office had to admit she didn't exist.
From now on, no more false names will be used by the Downing Street office. I wonder how letters from staff will be signed off in future?
Two years ago, beleaguered Prime Minister Gordon Brown was accused of being disrespectful to the grieving mother of a soldier who had been killed by a bomb in Afghanistan. What had he done? He had sent her a handwritten note to offer his personal condolences.
Unfortunately he had initially misspelled the son's name and corrected it rather than starting afresh. Also, his handwriting was deemed a hastily-scrawled "insult". In all, The Sun found 20 mistakes, including writing the letter "i" incorrectly 18 times.
Gordon Brown was forced onto the defensive and had to apologise to the mother, Jacquie Janes (not James, as Gordon had written), by telephone.
Even allowing for Gordon Brown's poor eyesight, it seems hard to believe that no-one at Number 10 intervened to suggest he should bin his first attempt and try again. As Robert Crampton wrote in The Times, "Gordon Brown screwed up by not screwing it up."
Of course, this would never have happened to fictional President Bartlett, of US TV series The West Wing. Whenever the storyline included the death of a member of the armed forces, President Bartlett always made a personal call to the next of kin - a truly personal touch.
We non-fictional humans are so hard to please.
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
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 what the OED describes as some 'noteworthy initialisms':
Some of these—such as OMG [OMG int. (and n.) and adj.]: ‘Oh my God’ (or sometimes ‘gosh’, ‘goodness’, etc.) and LOL [LOL int. and n./2]: ‘laughing out loud’—are strongly associated with the language of electronic communications (email, texting, social networks, blogs, and so on). They join other entries of this sort: IMHO (‘in my humble opinion’) [IMHO at I n./1], TMI (‘too much information’) [TMI at T n.], and BFF (‘best friends forever’) [BFF at B n.], among others.While there were inevitable quibbles from purists who think English is going to hell in a handcart, the OED is surely only reflecting current English usage. Listen to teenagers or engage with people by text or twitter and you'll see it makes sense to include these terms in the dictionary. You won't find it in the OED yet, but my 16-year-old daughter is currently using 'ceebs' as an abbreviation for CBA - 'can't be arsed' (can't be bothered). English is fantastically fluid and versatile.
Curiously, some of these initialisms are not as new as most of us thought:
As is often the case, OED’s research has revealed some unexpected historical perspectives: our first quotation for OMG is from a personal letter from 1917; the letters LOL had a previous life, starting in 1960, denoting an elderly woman (or ‘little old lady’; see LOL n./1); and the entry for FYI [FYI phr., adj., and n.], for example, shows it originated in the language of memoranda in 1941..The other seemingly contoversial new dictionary entry to grab attention was the verb 'to heart' - based on the use of the symbol ♥ to represent the word 'love', as in ' I ♥ NY. Fair enough, I say. Apparently it's been with us since 1984.
My favourite new entry to the OED by far, though, is fnarr fnarr, described by the OED as follows: "a representation of a lecherous snigger popularized in the comic magazine Viz and used adjectivally to denote crude sexual innuendo." It's the noise made by comic character Finbarr Saunders who hears double entendres in every conversation. It's good to see slang and colloquial terms getting the recognition they deserve.
Monday, 21 February 2011
Brace yourself for '11' number plate madness
On the first of March the first 2011 vehicle registration plates will be released in the UK. These will include the year identifier 11, which is significant because, as one of the many websites devoted to selling personalised number plates points out:
I've never fully understood the desire for personalised or 'vanity' or 'custom' registration plates on a car. But I suppose you can never underestimate people's desire to 'express their individuality' in any way they can.
Last December, the UK's Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) trousered a whopping £12.5 million in just one day auctioning off personalised number plates containing the number 11. The previous year had netted only £3.5 million in total.
A blog at comparenumberplates.co.uk/ reported:
DELL BOY, which has yet to be auctioned, could go for tens of thousands of pounds. Meanwhile, a Swindon Town FC supporter recently purchased the plates SW11 NDN for a mere £400, prompting the Swindon Advertiser to run the headline: "A wheely great plate."
So what can we expect to see on British roads soon?
The Daily Mail reckons:
the range of meaningful combinations is vast and diverse with some stunning name and word matches. What gives this series the edge over its sisters in the range is the fact that the number '11' can represent, to a very pleasing extent, the following letters / combinations:- LL, L, I, II, IL, LI, H, N and U.
I've never fully understood the desire for personalised or 'vanity' or 'custom' registration plates on a car. But I suppose you can never underestimate people's desire to 'express their individuality' in any way they can.
Last December, the UK's Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) trousered a whopping £12.5 million in just one day auctioning off personalised number plates containing the number 11. The previous year had netted only £3.5 million in total.
A blog at comparenumberplates.co.uk/ reported:
To call it a number plate frenzy is an understatement. I’ve never known anything like it. 100s of people desperately calling every number plate company in the hope of grabbing the perfect private number plate.
Online sales opened on Tuesday 7th December, at 8.30am… and 1,000s of individuals bombarded the DVLA website to grab the number plates they were after.The best number plates were snapped up within seconds… quite literally. Every Singh number plate (such as AS11 NGH) disappeared, along with Smith (such as SM11 THR)… at just £1999 each, these were a total steal! It’s likely many will come back on the market at more than 10 times that.It's hard to believe that in these cash-strapped times people are prepared to fork out serious money for such a mundane item. Apparently, the minimum price for plates featuring letters relevant to the buyer, or those spelling words such as DULL DAY, sold in the DVLA's online auction in December for prices ranging from £399 to £3,000.
DELL BOY, which has yet to be auctioned, could go for tens of thousands of pounds. Meanwhile, a Swindon Town FC supporter recently purchased the plates SW11 NDN for a mere £400, prompting the Swindon Advertiser to run the headline: "A wheely great plate."
So what can we expect to see on British roads soon?
The Daily Mail reckons:
However, it will all be good, clean 'fun' as the Mail points out:there will be gems such as BULL DOG, GALL OPS, WELL BAD and FALL GUY. Or, if you happen to be an unfortunate motorcyclist, FALL OFF.
A team of official spoilsports is employed to weed out offensive, inadvisable or easily corruptible combinations before they are allowed to join Britain’s 34million registrations. Plates such as BULL ETS, MULL AHS and CALL GRL, therefore, will not be in anyone’s Christmas sack; nor will those that could be changed to look like POLICE, TALIBAN, A KILLER or FILTHY.So there you go - you have been warned.
And don’t be misled into thinking the DVLA will miss one. Only rarely does it make a bit of a BALL SUP.
Friday, 31 December 2010
In celebration of words
Last month the OUP announced its word of the year (WOTY) for 2010 - 'big society', which beat 'double-dip' and 'vuvuzela'.
BBC News also recently produced a list of words used in politics during the past year. The list includes 'bigotgate', 'brokeback coalition' and 'ginger rodent'.
Over in the US, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary announced the top ten words of 2010. Based on the number of searches online, the top three were: 'austerity', 'pragmatic' and 'moratorium'.
In January the American Dialect Society will announce its own WOTY list for 2010. One of the judges, linguist Ben Zimmer, has highlighted 'junk', shellacking' and 'hactivism' as possible contenders. If you're interested, you can listen to him discussing his choices on National Public Radio here.
I learned today on the Virtual Linguist blog that the top three buzz words used in China this year were: 'awesome', 'fake divorce' and 'ant tribe'.
And in Belgium, it seems the word that topped the list for 2010 (at least in Flemish, the type of Dutch spoken in Belgium) was 'tentsletje', or 'tent slut', which The Daily Telegraph helpfully translates as "...a woman who has multiple sexual partners at a music festival..."
These WOTY lists are fun and comprise a sort of potted cultural and political history for a particular year.
Using words should be fun, yet too often (and I'm as guilty of this as anyone) we can get pulled out of shape when we perceive words being used 'incorrectly'.
As 2010 draws to a close, here's an inspiring reminder from - who else? - Stephen Fry about why we should try to enjoy and celebrate our language more and be less uptight about it usage. Words by the man himself, kinetic typography animation by Matt Rogers. Enjoy - and a Happy New Year!
BBC News also recently produced a list of words used in politics during the past year. The list includes 'bigotgate', 'brokeback coalition' and 'ginger rodent'.
Over in the US, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary announced the top ten words of 2010. Based on the number of searches online, the top three were: 'austerity', 'pragmatic' and 'moratorium'.
In January the American Dialect Society will announce its own WOTY list for 2010. One of the judges, linguist Ben Zimmer, has highlighted 'junk', shellacking' and 'hactivism' as possible contenders. If you're interested, you can listen to him discussing his choices on National Public Radio here.
I learned today on the Virtual Linguist blog that the top three buzz words used in China this year were: 'awesome', 'fake divorce' and 'ant tribe'.
And in Belgium, it seems the word that topped the list for 2010 (at least in Flemish, the type of Dutch spoken in Belgium) was 'tentsletje', or 'tent slut', which The Daily Telegraph helpfully translates as "...a woman who has multiple sexual partners at a music festival..."
These WOTY lists are fun and comprise a sort of potted cultural and political history for a particular year.
Using words should be fun, yet too often (and I'm as guilty of this as anyone) we can get pulled out of shape when we perceive words being used 'incorrectly'.
As 2010 draws to a close, here's an inspiring reminder from - who else? - Stephen Fry about why we should try to enjoy and celebrate our language more and be less uptight about it usage. Words by the man himself, kinetic typography animation by Matt Rogers. Enjoy - and a Happy New Year!
Friday, 5 November 2010
One cap fits all?
In amongst the pain inflicted by the cuts contained in the UK Government's recent spending review, I was intrigued with all the talk about various 'caps'.
For example, on housing benefits:
For example, on housing benefits:
Housing benefit cap plan will backfire, ministers told (The Guardian)
David Cameron stands by 'fair' housing benefit cap (The Independent)
Saturday, 2 October 2010
Tweet, to who?
To tweet, or not to tweet - that is the question.
Love it or hate it, there is no ignoring Twitter. Launched in 2006, it passed the 100 million user mark earlier this year and is growing at an estimated rate of 300,000 new users a month.
I signed up for a Twitter account in March 2009 but after a couple of timid posts I left it alone and only began to play around with it from April of this year. And you really do need to play with it, to shape it to your personality and interests.You need to find people to follow and slowly, amazingly, you'll find that people will start to follow you. You also need to come to grips with Twitter's terminology, including timelines, hashtags, retweets and mentions.
I'll admit to being a bit overwhelmed at the start. It's rather like arriving at a party that's in full swing. The place is packed with lots of people talking loudly, laughing and it looks like it's a lot of fun. Your first few tweets feel like whispering into the void: no-one hears them. Gradually, though, your tweets get louder and a few people might turn their heads to hear what you've got to say. At this point you have to inch your way across the threshold and into the room in the hope that people will start to take notice and (gulp) speak to you.
After six months of being active on Twitter, I now follow 93 people and 27 people follow me. I've not quite crossed the threshold but I can clearly see the Twitterati all standing in the kitchen hogging the booze.
Why am I bothering? Social media is becoming an essential part of the marketing and communications mix for businesses. Companies are scrambling to find ways of harnessing the power of Twitter to promote brands, raise awareness, sell products and even recruit staff. Social media, it is said, allows people and companies to create a 'conversation' and 'communities' of shared interests. As an individual I'm also curious to see if Twitter was more than just finding out what celebrities are having for breakfast.
And it is so much more than that. Barack Obama used Twitter during the US Presidential election and famously tweeted his thanks when he knew he had won. When a passerby in New York tweeted that a plane had crash-landed on the Hudson last year, it was obvious that here was a powerful new way of communicating breaking news stories.
After the death of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately, Twitter outrage forced Jan Moir of The Daily Mail to apologise after describing his as 'sleazy'. And the gagging order that prevented The Guardian from reporting on the Trafigura case involving the dumping of toxic waste in Africa was lifted following an explosion of tweets that drove the story into the public domain.
Of course it's not all campaigning and crusading - there's a lot of time-wasting dross out there too. The trick is to be focused and picky about who you follow so most of the irrelevant or uninteresting stuff is filtered out. Twitter provides tools to help you organise your account. You don't have to follow everyone who decides to follow you. And you can quickly 'unfollow' or even 'block' people. You can also create lists, which enable you to group incoming tweets into separate categories.
With only a few 'real' friends to follow on Twitter, I began by searching for interesting people such as comedians (Bill Bailey, Simon Pegg, Marcus Brigstock, Tim Minchen) and writers (Armando Ianucci, Will Self, Charlie Brooker, Mark Gatiss). I also follow Number 10 and just one politician - John Prescott (who is a very active tweeter). The list is growing.
You can also search by topic. I'm interested in words and language and I've discovered a universe of linguists, copy-editors, and other grammar nerds to follow - such as @WriteAdvantage, @HangingNoodles, @wordlust, @Lynneguist, @MightyRedPen, amongst others. One great find I can recommend is @DrSamuelJohnson, who tweets in the language of the great lexicographer (a book of his collected tweets was published last month).
As well as being amused by things people tweet, I love the links that are often included (shrunk, of course, to fit in the 140 character limit). The only trouble I have right now is organising all the bookmarks I've made for all the fascinating blogs, websites and articles that Twitter has put me onto. I've also got to find the time to read them.
I'm still a newbie (a twatchling?) but I'm enjoying the experience. Only one of my tweets has been 'retweeted' so far (forwarded by someone else to their followers) but it's a start.
Come and join me - @suewalder.
Love it or hate it, there is no ignoring Twitter. Launched in 2006, it passed the 100 million user mark earlier this year and is growing at an estimated rate of 300,000 new users a month.
I signed up for a Twitter account in March 2009 but after a couple of timid posts I left it alone and only began to play around with it from April of this year. And you really do need to play with it, to shape it to your personality and interests.You need to find people to follow and slowly, amazingly, you'll find that people will start to follow you. You also need to come to grips with Twitter's terminology, including timelines, hashtags, retweets and mentions.
I'll admit to being a bit overwhelmed at the start. It's rather like arriving at a party that's in full swing. The place is packed with lots of people talking loudly, laughing and it looks like it's a lot of fun. Your first few tweets feel like whispering into the void: no-one hears them. Gradually, though, your tweets get louder and a few people might turn their heads to hear what you've got to say. At this point you have to inch your way across the threshold and into the room in the hope that people will start to take notice and (gulp) speak to you.
After six months of being active on Twitter, I now follow 93 people and 27 people follow me. I've not quite crossed the threshold but I can clearly see the Twitterati all standing in the kitchen hogging the booze.
Why am I bothering? Social media is becoming an essential part of the marketing and communications mix for businesses. Companies are scrambling to find ways of harnessing the power of Twitter to promote brands, raise awareness, sell products and even recruit staff. Social media, it is said, allows people and companies to create a 'conversation' and 'communities' of shared interests. As an individual I'm also curious to see if Twitter was more than just finding out what celebrities are having for breakfast.
And it is so much more than that. Barack Obama used Twitter during the US Presidential election and famously tweeted his thanks when he knew he had won. When a passerby in New York tweeted that a plane had crash-landed on the Hudson last year, it was obvious that here was a powerful new way of communicating breaking news stories.
After the death of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately, Twitter outrage forced Jan Moir of The Daily Mail to apologise after describing his as 'sleazy'. And the gagging order that prevented The Guardian from reporting on the Trafigura case involving the dumping of toxic waste in Africa was lifted following an explosion of tweets that drove the story into the public domain.
Of course it's not all campaigning and crusading - there's a lot of time-wasting dross out there too. The trick is to be focused and picky about who you follow so most of the irrelevant or uninteresting stuff is filtered out. Twitter provides tools to help you organise your account. You don't have to follow everyone who decides to follow you. And you can quickly 'unfollow' or even 'block' people. You can also create lists, which enable you to group incoming tweets into separate categories.
With only a few 'real' friends to follow on Twitter, I began by searching for interesting people such as comedians (Bill Bailey, Simon Pegg, Marcus Brigstock, Tim Minchen) and writers (Armando Ianucci, Will Self, Charlie Brooker, Mark Gatiss). I also follow Number 10 and just one politician - John Prescott (who is a very active tweeter). The list is growing.
You can also search by topic. I'm interested in words and language and I've discovered a universe of linguists, copy-editors, and other grammar nerds to follow - such as @WriteAdvantage, @HangingNoodles, @wordlust, @Lynneguist, @MightyRedPen, amongst others. One great find I can recommend is @DrSamuelJohnson, who tweets in the language of the great lexicographer (a book of his collected tweets was published last month).
As well as being amused by things people tweet, I love the links that are often included (shrunk, of course, to fit in the 140 character limit). The only trouble I have right now is organising all the bookmarks I've made for all the fascinating blogs, websites and articles that Twitter has put me onto. I've also got to find the time to read them.
I'm still a newbie (a twatchling?) but I'm enjoying the experience. Only one of my tweets has been 'retweeted' so far (forwarded by someone else to their followers) but it's a start.
Come and join me - @suewalder.
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