Clinging to clarity 04/08/2011

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A recent article on Slate's The Good Word poses the question: how long should we cling to a word's original meaning?

The "Nonplussed" Problem suggests that, sometimes, sticking to a word's original meaning can be a good thing -- especially if there is no other synonym to replace it. Language is often about nuance and subtlety; something you don't when you use "awesome" to describe everything that is good, superb, fabulous or wonderful.

As native of England who moved to the U.S. as a teenager, I still run into language differences among family and colleagues. There are many words I no longer use because doing so causes confusion or misunderstanding. Take the word "chuffed," for instance. I used that in a meeting this week and, while coworkers got the gist of it through context, it was a word they were unfamiliar with. That unfamiliarity reduces the clarity of your communication.

As a professional communicator, while I love to use multitudes of words that spark your imagination and bring lightness to prose, if you end up not communicating your message clearly, then you're not succeeding at your primary goal.

Note: Chuffed = very pleased

 

Writing humor - funny only to writers? 04/06/2011

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I can't quite explain why I find punctuation humor so incredibly funny. Perhaps it's the comments on this site: The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation marks (http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com). Perhaps it's because I often take unneeded quotation marks out of other people's writing. Whatever the reason, I find blogs like these hilarious and laugh until I cry.

Is this unique to writers? Do you think writing humor is funny, too?

 

Quick Writing Tips 02/28/2011

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A colleague asked me for some writing tips recently. He doesn't think of himself as much of a writer but wants to work on it. Standing in his cubicle and thinking off the top of my head, this is what I told him.

Write fewer words
It's harder to write short than it is to write long, but it's worth the effort. When you say what you want with fewer words, people are more likely to read it. More words don't equal better communication.

Frankly, most of us are so inundated with things to read--e-mail, blog posts (like this one), news, etc--that we skim. Shorter sentences are just plain easier to read and absorb information from.

Be confident in your writing
When we worry that we can't write well, we tend to use more formal language. There's no need for that. People get all formal and stuffy and long-winded when they don't believe in their own ability to communicate what they need to say in simple language.

I advised him to "write like you talk." I don't mean that he should start writing, "So, I told him that we needed to do xyz and he was like, we should go in a different direction and do abc. And I was like, no, dude, that's not the way to go." But the more we simplify language, the easier it is for the reader to understand it. And that's the point of communicating to begin with.

Let people know what you want them to do
When you tell people what action you want them to take next, they're a lot more likely to do it than if you leave them hanging, trying to figure out your point and purpose.

If you're writing an e-mail where you want people to get back to you, tell them that. If you want them to review the article you wrote and send their feedback and/or approval, make that the last line of your e-mail.

If you're writing an article for a donor newsletter, let people know what action you want them to take after reading the article. Should they call you, go online for more information, send a donation in the enclosed envelope? Tell them what to do next.

As writers, it's our job to do the work for our readers--whether that's using fewer words to make it easier to understand, writing more conversationally or including a call to action.

What did you think of this blog post? Tell me in the comments below.