General rants Archives - Page 25 of 27

QUIT THE QUOTATIONS

April 27, 2011 by Scott Flood

Quotation marks are a very familiar punctuation device, and we’d have a tough time surviving without them. As a famous writer once said, “Quotation marks allow us to identify what someone actually says, as opposed to simple statements being made by the writer.” Actually, I just made that quote up, but it illustrates one of the primary roles of quotation marks. The other is to denote when something is being lifted from another source.

There’s a third use for quotation marks, and it’s not well-understood. It’s to imply that something isn’t really what you’re presenting it as. For example, if I wrote that a necklace was made from “silver” or “real” silver, I’m implying that it’s actually an imitation. If I said that a particular political candidate is “smart,” I’m suggesting that she’s dumber than that proverbial box of rocks.

THERE ARE NO RULES

April 13, 2011 by Scott Flood

I’ll often receive emails asking me about specific rules of word usage. Or when I submit copy to a client, one of the reviewers will send it back with a comment asking whether I know the rule about something.

The grammarians in the crowd will hate me for saying it, but there really aren’t any rules about writing. There are simply preferences that the people who control the writing expect to see.

DEATH TO THE AMPERSAND!

April 6, 2011 by Scott Flood

No, I’m not advocating violence against punctuation. And I’ll admit that the ampersand (that little “&” mark) can be handy now and then. But it’s one of the most-misused tools in the punctuation toolbox.

The ampersand serves as a graphic replacement for the word “and.” When used in graphic design, it can even be a thing of beauty — much prettier than those three letters it replaces. Designers will twist and turn ampersands, run words through and around them, or present them in different colors and typefaces.

PROFESSIONAL WHAT? MORE GOOFS AND GAFFES …

March 9, 2011 by Scott Flood

If you use an electronic sign, always check the number of characters it can display at any one time. One local business called “Glass Pros” uses its sign to make promotional messages, some of which end with the company’s name. Unfortunately, it appears that the screen can only display eight letters and/or spaces at a time, so when a message stops scrolling, only the last eight letters and/or spaces remain visible. Take a look at their name, do a little counting, and you’ll see how their sign presents them.

FOOLING OTHERS — OR YOURSELF?

February 23, 2011 by Scott Flood

When I started my business, I’d spend a lot of time reading through online forums and other small business advice sites. I found some good advice (along with a lot of really crappy stuff from self-styled experts).

One issue that came up again and again was whether the owners of these new businesses should refer to themselves as “I” or “we” when writing about the business in brochures and other materials. (Websites were still new enough that people weren’t agonizing over them.)

IS THE PRINCIPAL YOUR PAL?

February 16, 2011 by Scott Flood

Indiana is currently embroiled in a battle over what its proponents are calling “education reform” and what opponents see as an attempt to dismember the public school system (personally, I’m in the latter camp, but that’s not the point I’m here to make).

Newspaper articles and TV coverage of the battle have been extensive, and the websites of these media outlets give voice to readers and viewers through their “comment” sections. Judging from many of those comments … particularly those from the pro-“reform” side … Indiana should spend a lot more money on education, not less. I base that on the plethora of spelling errors, grammar gaffes that go beyond picky mistakes, and leaps of logic that aren’t even in the neighborhood of what we call reasoning.

WHAT COLOR IS YOUR PAGE?

February 9, 2011 by Scott Flood

Another simple way to gauge your copy’s potential effectiveness is to highlight it in two different colors. Whether you’re developing a letter, a brochure, a web page, or any other channel, take a few moments to highlight all of the sentences that are really about your customer and his or her needs. Let’s do that in pink. Next, highlight all the sentences that are about your company and what it does in yellow.

Now look at the page. What color is your page?

EMAIL QUALITY ALWAYS MEANS MORE THAN QUANTITY

February 2, 2011 by Scott Flood

There’s a company from which I’ve been buying products off and on for the better part of three decades. I bought when they were primarily a catalog marketer, and kept buying after they made the move online. I don’t buy a lot from them — maybe something once every three or four years — but enough so they continue to stay in contact.

But I’m about to break off that contact and press the evil unsubscribe button. Why? Because whoever is in charge of their online marketing strategy seems to believe that the best way to maintain my loyalty is to stuff my emailbox with email after email — and the frequency keeps increasing.

NEKKID FROM THE WASTE DOWN AND OTHER GOOFS

January 26, 2011 by Scott Flood

“… He then undressed her from the waste down and cut open her shirt and bra …” That salacious gem came from a story on the Indianapolis Star’s website. I had images of Lady Gaga wearing an outfit made of trash, or perhaps someone who was stuck headfirst into a landfill. Once again, a story was spellchecked, but not edited. Or maybe the writer really wasn’t referring to a woman’s waist.

A similar, but less exciting example appeared in the February issue of Trains Magazine. In an item about a railroad executive, a writer mentioned that the man “was previously general council.” No, that would be “counsel,” a noun most often referring to attorneys when preceded by “general.” A “council” is a group of people gathered for a particular task, such as a “town council” or a “merchants’ council.”

JUST BECAUSE WORD DOES IT …

January 12, 2011 by Scott Flood

As a society, we’ve developed a frightening level of trust in technology. We often abandon our own knowledge and better judgment because some aspect of technology has a different answer — and it must be correct, right?

Microsoft Word is an amazing piece of technology. I spend several hours with it every day, and I know that I’ll never do more than scratch the surface of its capabilities. But any piece of software is only as good as the knowledge and preferences of its programmers.