“Stop buying stupid products or deficient services—or buy the better product or service from a competitor. Also: tell them that their stuff sucks—and tell your friends. Social networks are a great new platform to create some momentum. Naturally, there is also a personal way: become a missionary for innovation…the world of business needs positive change more then anything else—so be the change (as Gandhi said).”
– Hartmut Esslinger, founder of frog design, on what customers can do to encourage companies to develop more innovative products and services.
This quote was drawn from an interesting interview, in which Hartmut discusses, among other things what he thinks are the top 10 best and worst ... Read more »
We’re barely squeezing this one in under the wire today, but hey – it’s been one of those weeks. For your reading pleasure, here are 10 more Favorite Friday words. If you have a favorite word, leave it in the comments below.
Wretched – deeply distressed or unhappy
Holler – to shout or yell (a favorite word for us Southern gals)
Evocative – tending to call forth or summon
Bloviate – to speak at some length bombastically or rhetorically
Apotheosis – the glorification of a person or thing
Equanimity – the quality of remaining calm, undisturbed
Cavalcade – A procession of horsemen or carriages OR a sequence of events
Ruminate – to turn something over in the mind, meditate
Portmanteau – ...
Read more »
You may have noticed that we’re big fans of hopping up on our soapbox to proclaim the importance of communicating simply, clearly and concisely. This is solid advice from a business perspective, but one of the drawbacks of business writing is missing out on all those fantastic, obscure and quirky words that are virtually impossible to work into the average sentence. I thought it would be fun to create a blog post celebrating these favorite, seldom-used words, so I asked some friends to weigh in.
Who knew this would be such a hot topic? I got so many great responses that I’ve decided to make this a regular Friday blog ... Read more »
How can anything possibly 'pre-exist'? It either exists, or it doesn’t.
It’s time for my semi-regular gripe about abuse of the English language. The phrase that’s currently driving me nuts is “pre-existing condition.” We all know that this is a term used by the health insurance industry to justify denying health coverage, but have you ever thought about what it really means? How can anything possibly “pre-exist”? It either exists, or it doesn’t. Seems to me that “pre-diagnosed condition” would be a more accurate description, but what do I know?
Unless you’re in the managed care industry you probably won’t have ... Read more »
English is a funny language; there are almost always two or more words that mean the same thing.
“English is a funny language; there are almost always two or more words that mean the same thing. Usually, one will tend to be longer and more vague, like ‘civilized,’ and the other will be shorter and more direct, like ‘polite’ or ‘nice’ or just ‘good.’ As a general rule, people trying to dress up their ideas in showy clothes go for the longer, vaguer words – which is why the idea itself can be weakened. Use indirect language to express yourself long enough, soon even you will not be able to say exactly what it is you mean! When you have a ... Read more »
“I don’t get it.” I must have heard this a dozen times when I tell people I’m a newly-converted Twitterholic. I can understand the sentiment – the official Twitter intro video compares the 140-character tweets to Facebook status updates, which isn’t how I use Twitter at all. And have you seen Jon Stewart’s diatribe about Twitter? It probably sums up how a lot of people feel – like I said, they don’t get it.
I love Twitter so I feel like it’s my duty to tell people of ... Read more »
