On the whole, I don’t believe in synonyms. Such is the magnificent complexity of the English language that only rarely do two words mean exactly the same thing. Even if the dictionary gives two words the same definition, they almost never carry the same connotation, which is what makes using the thesaurus such a treacherous […]
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What’s on First
It’s happened. You’ve been abducted by space aliens. They march you to their leader, who looks at you menacingly—at least you think that’s what she’s doing, but you’re not sure those are her eyes. Somewhere, a mouth opens and it says, “I’ve heard earthlings have something called a chair. What is a chair, exactly?” Do […]
Puzzling It Out
Conveying information can be tricky. You need to describe X, but in order to describe X, you need to explain Y, which really doesn’t make sense unless one knows about Z. But according to the standard tenets of communications, you can’t lead with Z, because Z is not really what your story is about. Writers grapple with this kind of problem every […]
Houston, We Have a Challenge
Raise your hand if “integrity” is one of your company’s official values. Or maybe “honest” “candid” or “open” communications are on the list? Why is it, then, that internal communications are so often dishonest? I don’t mean the outright-lying kind of dishonesty, although it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that that goes on in some […]
Beware the Adjective!
Remember “show, don’t tell?” Generations of creative writing teachers have imparted this bit of wisdom, but if you’re like many harried communications professionals, you probably haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about how it applies to the writing you do every day. In fact, “show, don’t tell” can be a surprisingly useful bit of […]
Making It Easy
At school, my kids see a “Do Now” on the board when they walk into class. At meetings, the agenda ends with “Deliverables.” But so many communications I’ve seen leave me scratching my head: when and where is this event, what am I supposed to do to sign up for this program, how can I […]