Good with Words

Information Design as a Risk Management Tool

2009-11-20T14:48:00.004-05:00

Good Information Design (ID) is more than just making the presentation of information attractive. ID is concerned with presenting information in a way that’s useful for the intended audience. Indeed, ID can even aid in risk management. I came across a vivid example of this in Captain Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger’s recently-released book “Highest Duty”. (Captain Sullenberger was the US Airways pilot who safely landed Flight 1549 in the Hudson River in January 2009.)

After losing thrust on both engines, Sully instructed First Officer Jeff Skiles to check the Quick Reference Handbook (QRH) for what to do in such a situation. Here’s Sully’s description of those moments (from page 262 of the book):

“Jeff grabbed the Quick Reference Handbook to find the most appropriate procedure for our emergency. The QRH is more than an inch thick, in previous editions, it had helpful numbered tabs sticking out of the edge of it. That made it easier for us to find the exact page we needed. You could hold it in your left hand and use it like an address book, grazing over the numbered tabs with your right hand before turning to the tab for, say Procedure number 27.

“In recent years, however, in a cost-cutting move, US Airways had begun printing these booklets without the numbered tabs on the edge of the pages. Instead, the number of each procedure was printed on the page itself, requiring pilots to open the pages and thumb through them to get to the right page.

“On Flight 1549, as Jeff turned quickly through the pages of his QRH without tabs, it likely took him a few extra seconds to find the page he needed with the proper procedure. I told this to the National Transportation Safety Board in my testimony given in the days after the accident.”

I don’t think you’ll ever find a better example of how Information Design – those little tabs on the pages – can, in fact, be useful from a risk management perspective. The purpose for having the QRH in the cockpit was risk management and those involved in the Information Design decisions that went into the earlier versions clearly understood that a design that included tabs would be useful in saving precious time during an emergency.

Rule #29 -- Words Matter

2009-10-16T16:18:00.003-04:00

Awhile back, in her weekly newsletter, Terri Lonier (founder of Working Solo), recommended Alan M. Webber's new book: Rules of Thumb: 52 Truths for Winning at Business without Losing Your Self.

Intrigued, I added it to my reading list and earlier this week I finally started reading it. The book has 52 short chapters, each of which features a rule of thumb. After stating the rule, Webber tells a short story that illustrates it. Then, under the heading of “So What?”, he explains how the rule applies in contexts beyond the introductory story.

This afternoon I came across Rule 29: Words Count. Given what I do for a living, I was quite please to see that rule! (Mind you, it would be higher than #29 in my book, but never mind…)

Anyway, on page 142, under the “So What?” heading for Rule 29, Webber offers two memorable quotes to illustrate the rule that I just have to share. Here’s what Webber wrote:

“1. “The difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.” Mark Twain said that.

2. “If you think learning your vocabulary words doesn’t make a difference, try going into a store and asking for toilet paper when you only know the word for sandpaper.” Roy Battenberg, my high school German teacher said that.”

As I said, Rule #29 struck a particular chord with me – but it’s just one of 52 insightful rules Webber offers up. Check it out and let me know what you think…

National Punctuation Day

2009-09-24T09:23:00.004-04:00

Are you up for a challenge? If so, here's what I propose: today -- in honour of National Punctuation Day -- use as many different punctuation marks as you can! It's not as hard as is sounds ... All you have to do is be creative; take a break from your normal, safe, dull punctuation. Then, if anyone asks why your writing is so much livelier today, tell just them: "Because I was brave enough to take up Ingrid's challenge".

[If you're inspired by this (and I hope you are) -- feel free to share your inspiration with the rest of us by posting a comment.]

Ghostwriting

2009-08-23T20:32:00.004-04:00

Ghostwriting has been in the news lately –- but not because of some celebrity autobiography or other fluff piece. A New York Times article published August 5, 2009 reported about recently-released court documents that show that Wyeth Pharmaceutical hired a medical communications firm to draft articles that were published in medical journals between 1998 and 2005 emphasizing the benefits of hormone replacement therapy.

According to the Times’ article, the communications firm, which was paid by Wyeth, outlined the articles, drafted them, and then solicited top physicians to sign on as author of the articles, even though many of the physicians contributed little or not writing. (An August 22, 2009 article in the Toronto Star described a journal article published under the name of a Canadian researcher that was among the revealed court documents.)

As a communications consultant, I worry that such unsavory practices reflect poorly on my profession. On occasion, I am hired to write on behalf of someone else. (I suspect most good communications consultants are so hired from time-to-time.) When I am hired to write something that will go out under another individual's name, my job is to put the named author’s expertise into words and my writing is always under the named author’s direction and subject to their close review. The idea of writing something and then going in search of a name to have it published under is not –- to my mind -– what ghostwriting is about.

U.K.'s Local Goverment Association bans jargon

2009-03-22T17:17:00.004-04:00

BBC News has reported that the Local Government Association (an association of 466 local government authorities throughout the UK) is encouraging its staff to avoid the use of jargon. According to the BBC, local and central governments are often criticized for their use of language.

Margaret Eaton, chair of the Local Government Association, explained its reasoning: "During the recession, it is vital that we explain to people in plain English how to get access to the 800 different services that total government provides with taxpayers' money. Councils have a duty, not only to provide value for money to local people, but also to tell people what they get for the tax the pay. People would be furious if they have no idea of what services their cash is paying for and how they should get to use them".

Hear,hear!

To see the complete list of the 200 words the Local Government Association has banned, click here.

Good grammar!

2009-03-03T15:26:00.004-05:00

I can't believe it's almost that time of year again! But it is...

Yes, March 4th is National Grammar Day according to the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar (SPOGG).

Though it may still be snowy and cold where you live (it's cold here, but the snow's pretty much gone) -- I hope you take a moment to celebrate the role good grammar plays in making an all too confusing world world a wee bit easier to understand.

Word of the Week, Month, and Year: VOTE

2008-11-03T18:59:00.002-05:00

In case you're wondering, I'm writing about the verb form of the word.

I don't need to define it for you -- you know what it means. I hope you also know how important it is that you do it. And, if you need a reason -- just think of it as a privilege that many people around the world are not fortunate enough to have.

So, please vote.

Word of the Week: robo-call

2008-10-19T11:11:00.001-04:00

I first heard this week's word of the week (robo-call) this morning when Colin Powell used it on Meet the Press. Of course, Powell didn't stop and define it (for those like me who had never heard of the word), but from the context I figured he was referring to those annoying taped phone messages we've all received -- often from telemarketers, but also from various political groups.

When I heard the word, I made a mental note of it, but I didn't rush to look it up or anything. But then, about an hour later, I was reading an article in the Sunday Toronto Star and the word came up in an Associated Press article about -- you guessed it -- the U.S. election. This time, not only did I make a mental note of it (and the fact that it was hypehnated, making it, basically, a compound adjective), I decided to look it up on Merriam-webster.com.

Given that I suspect the term is of fairly new, I wasn't surprised I couldn't find in on Merriam-webster.com. I then turned to WordSpy.com -- the great resource for new words. To my surprise, robocall wasn't listed there either.

So, though I never intended Word of the Week to be on the cutting edge of new words, I'm not opposed to the idea either. Therefore, I offer "robo-call" -- those taped phone messages sent out using an automated calling system. Mind you, I'm not condoning robo-calls, I'm just saying that it seems there is now a name for those annoying calls!

Word of the Week: upon

2008-10-10T09:49:00.002-04:00

I chose this week's word of the week for two reasons. First, I've been working on a big editing project for a corporate client -- one with more than half dozen different writers -- and each one of them used "upon". For example: upon receipt of an assignment; upon closure of the file; upon contact with; etc.

The first few times I came across it, I unceremoniously changed "upon" to "on" -- it just sounded more normal to me. After awhile, however, use of "upon" was so prevalent, I began wondering if there was some corporate policy to use "upon" instead of on. (I thought maybe they were using a style sheet I wasn't aware of!)

At some point, I decided I had better look "upon" up, to make sure I could justify making the change. I'm pleased to say I was right, as Merriam.webster.com uses one word to define "upon": on. Interestingly, it also notes that "upon" is from the 12th century (which explains why it sounded so stilted and, well, out-of-date to me).

Anyway -- at the same time that I was lopping off the "up" on all those "upons", I was working on another project where there was a strict length limit based on the number of characters (rather than words). I can't tell you how frustrating it was to cut and paste text into the template we were working on and get an error message that read something like: "17 characters too long". When that happens you find yourself carefully combing through the text, literally looking for ways of eliminating a character here and there. So, when you're in that granular editing mode, you think to yourself -- if I make that "upon" into "on", I can save two characters!

So there you have it -- two reasons you should think twice before using "upon": you can save yourself characters and demonstrate to your readers that you're no longer in the 12th century.

Word of the Week: maverick

2008-10-03T16:48:00.003-04:00

I always thought a maverick was a horse. Turns out, I was confusing it with a mustang... oh well.

So, trying hard to make sense of the current U.S. presidential race, I thought I had better look maverick up. Here's how Merriam-webster.com defines it:

1: an unbranded range animal ; especially : a motherless calf
2: an independent individual who does not go along with a group or party

Unfortunately, that doesn't help me much in understanding why being a maverick (or at least seeing ones self as a maverick) makes one particularly appealing as a presidential or vice presidential choice. (Not to mention that it seems kind of odd to think of the head of a party as someone who relished the idea that they don't go along with others in their party...)

I guess I'd rather vote for someone who is qualified, experienced, level-headed, and smart, and who proudly heads a party whose ideals are well reasoned and clearly articulated than someone who seems to prize being a maverick more than anything.

Word of the Week: venerable

2008-09-21T13:16:00.000-04:00

I can't help wonder if everyone's as tired as I am of hearing about the venerable financial institutions that are crumbling around us.The first few times I heard the term used to describe Lehman Brothers (or was it Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac? I can't remember), though I thought I knew what venerable meant, I decided to look it up. Here's how Merriam-Webster.com
defines it:

1: deserving to be venerated – used as a title for an Anglican archdeacon or for a Roman Catholic who has been accorded the lowest of three degrees of recognition for sanctity 2: made sacred especially by religious or historical association 3 a: calling forth respect through age, character, and attainments (a venerable jazz musician); broadly: conveying an impression of aged goodness and benevolence (encouraged by the venerable doctor’s head-nodding) b: impressive by reason of age(under venerable pines)

I think it's likely that most people have meant the third definition for venerable when they're using it to describe financial institutions. On the other hand, maybe the nod to religion in the first and second definitions is more apropos. After all, I think there's a good argument that much of the financial mess we're in was caused by the misplaced reverence people have had for these institutions.

Word of the Week: posh

2008-09-14T13:13:00.002-04:00

As is often the case, this week's Word of the Week was something I came across in the newspaper. Those up on pop culture will probably know why I saw the word in the paper this week. Those not up on pop culture might think I was reading about some new high-end restaurant or store. (After all, Merriam-Webster.com defines posh as "elegant, fashionable".)

Well, in truth, it wasn't really the word that was in the news -- it was the person who goes by the name "Posh" (or Posh Spice, to be more accurate).

Actually, as I write this, I realize maybe Word of the Week should have been "news" -- as clearly the definition of what constitutes news is changing from when I was in journalism school. Who would have guessed that someone getting a new hairstyle would be news!

Word of the Week: submit

2008-09-07T11:16:00.001-04:00

Some words just bug me -- submit is one. Actually, it’s not the word that drives me crazy -- it’s when people use it to sound like a lawyer. (Actually, their version of a lawyer, which is pretty much Perry Mason saying something like: "I submit, your honour, that my client -- Colonel Mustard -- could not have killed Miss Peacock in the library using the candelabra!) I know using submit is perfectly proper, it's just overly formal and smacks of legalese.

Submit came up not too long ago when I had a client who was invited to give its opinion on a public policy issue. The client's legal department wrote an opinion paper on the issue and the paper truly was a “submission”, in that the client was submitting it in response to a specific request for input. Even so, I urged them to resist using “submit” with regard to the separate points or opinions they were expressing.

For example, rather than say, “We submit that treating the matter this way would harm…", I encouraged them to say, “We believe treating the matter this way would harm …” or, “It’s our opinion that treating the matter this way would harm…”.

Often, when I press a client and to say “it’s our opinion”, instead of “we submit”, the client resists. When I ask why, the answer almost always has something to do with them feeling somehow self-conscious asserting their opinion. But that’s nonsense, I point out, since to submit something is to put forth an opinion.

So, I say -- don’t hide behind “submit” -- if you have an opinion, state it in plain language and stand by it!

Word of the Week: flexicurity

2008-08-31T11:04:00.001-04:00

Flexicurity appeared in a column by Carol Goar in the Toronto Star on Friday, August 29, 2008. I found the word intriguing and her comments and commentary quite interesting -- so rather than add my own two cents, I recommend you read her column.

One thing I will add, however, is that -- out of curiosity -- I checked Word Spy to see whether they have caught the word. Remember, Word Spy is dedicated to defining terms that have appeared in newspapers and magazines. I was surprised to see that flexicurity goes back to at an Associated Press article from 1997!

Here's how it's defined in Word Spy: flexicurity n. Labor practices that give companies the flexibility to fire workers as needed and offer fired workers the security of government-backed benefits and retraining opportunities. —adj. [Blend of flexibility and security.]

So -- though I agree with Ms. Goar that it's faintly Orwellian, I suspect that in months and years to come, flexicurity will catch on -- both as a word, and as a labour policy.

Just because you can

2008-08-28T15:49:00.002-04:00

As a communications consultant, I realize good communication isn’t just about words. How a document looks has an impact on how the information is received. To me, the best projects are ones where the text and design work together to create a document that’s both useful and compelling.

The ability to “PDF” (which stands for Portable Document Format) documents has gained popularity over the past five years and many companies and organizations have found “PDF’ing” documents an easy way to put information up on their web sites.

One of the main features of PDF is that it allows you to append the document in a way that reproduces the formatting, layout, and colours of the original. And, with the right software (Adobe is the most common), users can see the document in its original splendor and, theoretically, print it for themselves, if they want.

I used the adverb “theoretically” because on at least two occasions recently, I printed out PDF documents I downloaded from the Internet and, when I retrieved them from the printer, I was irritated to find that they didn’t print right – somehow a bunch of text got cut off. After trying again with the same result, I looked more closely at the print dialog box and noticed that the document was formatted for oversize paper (81/2” x 14” in one case and something even bigger in the other case).

In both cases, I'm sure the original documents were made and printed for handing out to customers and clients. The documents were lovely to look at and the organizations no doubt thought they were just making the most by putting the documents (brochures in both cases) up on their web site. Unfortunately, they never gave any thought to how readers might use the PDF version. (I’m sure I’m not the only person who prints things off.)

So, my advice is simple: while attaching PDF documents to your web site is a great way of maintaining the look of the document, remember that there'll be readers who will print the information and chances are they will be using standard paper. So, if the PDF document doesn’t print well on standard paper, rather than doing your audience a service by providing the information, you’ll end up just irritating folks.

In other words, don’t just PDF because you can. Be mindful of the way people use PDF documents and consider re-formatting them if necessary to make them printer friendly.

Word of the Week: twee

2008-08-24T08:24:00.009-04:00

It's not often that I come across a word on the front page of a major daily newspaper that I've never seen or heard -- but it happened this morning when I read the first sentence in an article about an on-going battle that has raged this summer on the shores of Georgian Bay. Here's the lead in a Toronto Star article by Murray Whyte:

"BALM BEACH, ONT. -- Idyllic and twee, this little lakeside hamlet, complete with a shabby arcade featuring a menu of greasy summertime delights, would seem the unlikeliest place to be pondering its own version of martial law. But here in the Township of Tiny, on the shores of Georgian Bay, desperate times call for desperate measures."

I know what you're thinking -- Township of Tiny? Well, it's true -- that's the name of the township where Balm Beach, the beach the story's about, is located. But that's not what snagged me.

What tripped me up was "twee". So naturally, I had to look it up. Here's what it means, according to Merriam-webster.com: "chiefly British : affectedly or excessively dainty, delicate, cute, or quaint".

I could have guessed it was "chiefly British" (could there have been any doubt?). But even so, I felt like a bit of an illiterate (it was, after all, a word on the front page of the paper) -- until, that is, I read the etymology. According to Merriam-webster.com, it is a "baby-talk alteration of sweet". Well, that makes me feel better -- no reason any of us with non-British parents would have been subjected to such excessively dainty, delicate, cute, or quaint a word.

Word of the Week: parse

2008-08-17T17:48:00.003-04:00

Parse isn't a word I use, but when I hear it, I usually feel pretty confident that I “get” what it means. That’s certainly how I felt when Andrew Bacevich used it in an interview on Bill Moyers Journal the other day. Here’s the sentence (from the transcript of that interview) in which he used it:

“Parsing every word, every phrase, that either Senator Obama or Senator McCain utters, as if what they say is going to reveal some profound and important change that was going to come about if they happened to be elected.”

From the way he used it I figured it has to do with pulling apart every sentence to try to figure out what the speaker means. (Not a huge intellectual challenge figuring it out from what Bacevich said, I know!)

Though I was confident I had the gist of the meaning, I decide to look it up. Indeed, the second meaning (for the transitive verb), according to Merriam-webster.com, was bang on: “2: to examine in a minute way: analyze critically”.

But what I found interesting was the first definition (for the transitive verb): “1a : to resolve (as a sentence) into component parts of speech and describe them grammatically b: to describe grammatically by stating the part of speech and explaining the inflection and syntactical relationship”. So, my assumption about it having to do with pulling apart every sentence was correct, but I didn’t realize it meant doing so in terms of parts of speech.

I’m guessing, but I suspect Bacevich is of the generation that was taught how to diagram a sentence -- so he probably could parse a sentence into its parts of speech. Unfortunately, many of us never learned how to do that. (I think I had a substitute teacher who tried to teach us, but it wasn’t a normal part of our curriculum -- and I'm pretty sure it hasn’t been for some time.) That’s a pity, I think…

I guess the only kind of parsing most of us will ever do is the kind described in the second definition.

Word of the Week: deadline

2008-08-11T16:36:00.003-04:00

This week's word is a reflection of my mood, and the fact that many of my clients have had me “on hold” the past few weeks. All I can figure is that they don't seem to know what deadline means -- or maybe they don't realize that deadline means the same thing when applied to something they're suppose to send me as when they expect something from me.

Anyway, in light of this, I thought I'd make deadline my word of the week to suggest to Merriam-Webster.com that it update its definition.

Here’s how they (currently) define it:

1: a line drawn within or around a prison that a prisoner passes at the risk of being shot 2 a: a date or time before which something must be done;b: the time after which copy is not accepted for a particular issue of a publication.

I think they should add this as a third entry: A date or time something is due, or promised, but not delivered by.

Black backgrounds

2008-08-04T11:28:00.003-04:00

I’ve always preferred serif fonts -- things like Times New Roman and Courier -- and I try to encourage my clients to use them. These days, I’d say more of my clients use sans serif fonts (like Arial), so pushing serif fonts is an uphill battle. (I recently had one client demand use of Verdana, a font that I wasn’t familiar with. When I asked why they wanted Verdana I was told it is the font the company adopted for its web site, but my client didn’t know why. Interestingly, since then I read somewhere else that Verdana was specifically created for web text, so I guess greater minds than mine have decided that.)

Anyway, having given up the battle for serif fonts, lately I’ve taken up a new cause: fighting against using black backgrounds and white (or, worse yet, yellow!) text on web sites. I’ve come across a number of sites with black backgrounds lately and they drive me crazy because they are very hard to read. I don’t want to name any sites here (but if you drop me an e-mail, I’ll give you an example), but I’m sure you’ve seen some yourself.

Please -- however boring it may seem -- stick to white, or light coloured, backgrounds with dark coloured text. Your readers will thank you. (Actually, that’s a lie. Your readers will not thank you if you use a white background because they won’t notice it. But believe me, they will notice -- and be very frustrated -- if you use a hard-to-read dark background with white text.)

Word of the Week: Cuil

2008-08-02T18:35:00.004-04:00

Those of you who’ve been paying attention to the news the past few days will have seen this word. It’s the name of a Internet search engine that debuted this week. I first saw a reference to it in the letters section of the Toronto Star. I hadn’t seen the original news story to which readers were responding, but I gathered from the letters that this is some new search engine that was/is hoping to go head-to-head with Google.

What I didn’t know when I read the letters was how to pronounce it. As a result, in my mind, I “heard” it as separate letters: C-U-I-L. (In other words, I didn’t sound it out.) Well, since then, I’ve seen/heard more news stories about it and I've learned that apparently it’s pronounced “cool”. A cute (if annoying) play on words, I thought.

Well, before sitting down to write this, I thought I better look it up, just in case it’s really a word. (Or very similar to, or inspired by, a real word – kind of the way Google is – arguably – inspired by: googol, which (according to Merriam-webster.com) is the figure 1 followed by 100 zeros equal to 10100.) As I suspected, Cuil is not listed as a word on Merriam-webster.com. (Interestingly, as of today, it’s not listed on WordSpy either.)

Curious about this new word and new search engine, I went on Cuil.com to see whether it explained the genesis of the name. According to them, “Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge.” Not having access to an old Irish dictionary, I couldn’t verify this claim – but it certainly sound impressive.

Anyway, for the time being, Cuil isn't a word I’ll be using. But, my guess is Cuil will probably make it into common parlance sooner than we think. (Given the initial reviews and commentary about the search engine, Cuil could become the 21st century equivalent of the Edsel, but I hope not.)

Word of the Week: lexpionage

2008-07-26T07:34:00.005-04:00

It certainly comes as no surprise to me that there are lots of people as interested in words as I am. That said, I was surprised when I came upon Word Spy, a web site devoted to "lexpionage", which it describes as "sleuthing of new words and phrases". To make it onto Word Spy the word (or phrase) has to have appeared multiple times in newspapers, magazines, books, Web sites and other recorded sources.

I don't know who's behind the site, but it's a neat idea and fun to scroll through and see how creative some folks are with words. So, enjoy...

Word of the Week: boreal

2008-07-20T19:56:00.004-04:00

“Ontario will protect a huge swath of its northern boreal forest in an effort to fight climate change and save polar bears and other threatened species.” When I read this in an article in the Toronto Star on July 14, 2008, I thought to myself, “Gee, I wonder what kind of trees are in a “boreal forest”."

My confusion continued the next day (July 15^th) when I read the lead in another story (by the same writer) in the Toronto Star. This one started out, “Ontario has made the largest conservation commitment in Canadian history, setting aside at least half the Northern Boreal region -- 225,000 square kilometres -- for permanent protection from development…”. Hmmm… capital N, capital B -- sounds like it’s a proper name. Now I’m really confused.

Unfortunately, an editorial on July 15^th in the Toronto Star didn’t clear up my confusion -- it actually added to it. Here’s the first line of it: “For most Ontarians, the vast boreal forest that blankets the province's far north is little more than an abstraction.”

That makes me think (again) that a boreal forest is a type of forest. So, after that, I did what I should have done the first time I read about the boreal forest. I looked up boreal. Here’s how Merriam-webster.com defines boreal: 1: of, relating to, or located in northern regions (boreal waters) 2: of, relating to, or comprising the northern biotic area characterized especially by dominance of coniferous forests.

Given this definition, my view is that unless the "Northern Boreal" forest is a proper name for a region, it’s redundant to refer to it as that, and it’s also redundant to tell readers that the boreal forest blankets the province’s far north -- where else would it be?

Word of the Week: altercation

2008-07-13T14:38:00.003-04:00

A friend and I were driving and listening to the local news on the radio. One of the news stories was about a guy who was killed the previous night. Along with telling us where he was found, the newscaster also mentioned that the deceased had been in an altercation earlier in the evening. No other information was given, but my friend and I took this additional bit of information to mean that the fact he was involved in an altercation had something to do with his death.

Immediately after that news story my friend asked me the definition of altercation. I said I wasn’t sure, but I thought it was a fight -- a physical fight. My friend wasn’t sure, but he tended to agree with me. Both of us agreed that, in any event, “altercation” was vague.

When I got home, I looked altercation up. Here’s how Merriam-webster.com defines it: “a noisy heated angry dispute; also: noisy controversy synonyms: see quarrel.

Clearly, I was wrong in thinking an altercation is a physical fight -- it is verbal. That being the case, it would have been lots clearer (to more listeners, I’d venture to say) had the newscaster simply said the guy got into a heated argument earlier in the evening.

So, the question I couldn't help wonder was why the newscaster didn't use argument instead? Did he think listeners would've thought less of him if he'd used a simpler, more widely-understood word? I don't think many would have minded. Indeed, if anything, I think more listeners would simply have understood what he said and would have listened for the next news item, rather than get distracted (like my friend and I did) trying to figure out what he meant.

Word of the Week: bloviate

2008-07-06T20:55:00.002-04:00

The following is from a recent Toronto Star editorial about a Supreme Court of Canada case on free speech:

"In an on-air commentary, Rafe Mair, an ex-politician turned bloviator for a Vancouver radio station, compared Kari Simpson, an anti-gay activist, to Hitler, among others. She sued him on the grounds that his remarks suggested she condones violence against gays and were, therefore, defamatory. The British Columbia court of appeal sided with the plaintiff, but the Supreme Court overturned that ruling. ...

"That's good news for talk-show hosts, newspaper columnists, bloggers ... and editorial writers."

I had certainly heard the word bloviate before, and, given the context in which it was used, I was pretty sure I knew what it meant. But, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it used in print. What I wondered was whether it’s a relatively new word -- like blog and blogosphere -- that’s now made its way into common usage -- or at least common enough for use in editorials.

So I looked it up. According to Merriam-webster.com, bloviate means “to speak or write verbosely and windily”. The definition didn't surprse me; what did, however, was that it is hardly a new word. Indeed, according to Merriam-webster.com it is “circa 1879”. So, I guess we can’t blame talk radio and the Internet for creating bloviators -- just for giving them a more wide-reaching forum.

Word of the Week: onomatopoeia

2008-06-28T22:40:00.005-04:00

This week I was at a jazz festival. Improvisational riffs back and forth between musicians have always fascinated me, as has the word “riff” itself. I know, strictly speaking, riff’s not onomatopoeic, but it is fun to say, which I think is the main reason I like the word. Anyway, given that it’s been on my mind, I thought riff would be a good choice for Word of the Week.

But, when I started writing this, I did a quick check to make sure riff doesn’t fit the definition of onomatopoeia. Turns out I was right, Merriam-webster.com defines onomatopoeia as: 1 the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (as buzz, hiss), and 2 the use of words whose sound suggests the sense.

After looking it up, I realized that onomatopoeia should be the Word of the Week. After all, it’s even more fun to say than riff, which means it’s an even better reminder that words can live in our ears and mouths, as well as on the page.