DO YOU HAVE ANY INTEREST in words? If so, I highly recommend you head to iPlayer to listen to Robert Macfarlane on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, which was broadcast last Friday 30 July. Nature words In case you don’t know, Robert Macfarlane is a writer and a teacher. Well, he calls himself a teacher. That’s a pretty humble description for a fellow at Cambridge University. Robert’s award-winning books focus on nature and words and the connections between the two. So, part

COMPLIMENTI ALL'ITALIA! Ok, I admit it. I had to use Google to find out how to appropriately congratulate the winners of Euro 2020. The fact is, we should all know a bit more Italian. It is, after all, the source of many English words. Made in Italy Even stupido people like me appreciate that ‘pizza’ and ‘pasta’ were made in Italy. It's because such words are so baked into English, we barely give them a second thought. The fact is Italy has been pretty generous to us over the

Why it's time to close your laptop and put pen to paper BOB BURG’S BEEN ON. The Wall Street Journal best-selling author joined us via Zoom just a few nights ago. Bob was great. He oozed wisdom as he responded copiously to questions from my local networking group on his book, The Go-Giver. In case you don’t know, The Go-Giver is a parable of business success built on giving and adding value to others. Published in 2007, it feels oddly topical for our post-pandemic world. Handw

People trafficking... just to get to work. Photo: Nabeel Syed/ Unsplash SLOWLY, SLOWLY, lockdown is easing and more of us are returning to our workplaces. The key to the Great Unlocking is expected to turn another notch on Monday 21 June. In fact, judging by the amount of traffic around my way, it seems most of us are already commuting again. As well as busier roads, this means Zoom meetings in pyjama bottoms and high-pitched phrases like ‘you’re on mute’ will fade into the p

WE CAN GO OUT AGAIN! The prime minister’s announcement means, from today, Monday 17 May, we can meet for a drink with up to five others as part of England’s third step of the lockdown roadmap. The news prompted me to write a word twist on: Hug Pub Assonance So, grab a drink (and a few mates if they’re handy) and read on… Hug Approach another human being. Preferably one you already know. Wrap your arms around that human being. They should automatically reciprocate. If not, jus

This isn't me. This is someone who works out so often they don't have time to write. Photo: Anastase Maragos/ Unsplash I DO A FAIR AMOUNT OF EXERCISE. I run, play football, cycle, swim and workout in the gym. You're right if you're thinking I'm the master of none of those things. Anyhow, while I was trotting along a hill at the weekend the idea popped into my head that writing is like working out. Though, obviously, it's a bit less sweaty. Below are five similarities between

The wheel is one of the best inventions of all time. Photo: Yasin Hosgor/ Unsplash WHEN YOU REACH PAGE 102 of The Go-Giver Leader by Bob Burg and John David Mann, you find one of the characters agreeing that words are the greatest human invention ever. As a bit of a word geek, you probably won’t be surprised to learn I agree with that statement. But, being a fair-minded word geek, at least for the purposes of public perception, I decided to google the words: ‘what are the gre

Photo: Priscilla du Preez/ Unsplash Let’s face it, writing is not for everyone. Some people enjoy it. Others, well, some people would rather stab themselves with an inky nib than write something that will be seen and judged by others. We call this morbid but common condition ‘write-o-phobia’. But fear not. Help is at hand if you’re struggling. Below are seven short points to help you structure a blog, news piece or a similar article. Remember, you can jot down anything just t

Stationary or stationery? Photo by Tim Gouw/ Unsplash I helped my Uncle Jack off his horse. I helped my uncle jack off his horse. My Microsoft Word spellchecker has no problem with those two sentences, despite their embarrassingly different meanings. You’ve probably seen this example before. But it works well to highlight the fact that spellcheckers couldn’t give a… well, erm, let's just say they don’t care what message you intended to convey. Which is why we see so many spel

Photo: countryliving.com AS VALENTINE’S DAY APPROACHES, it’s a good time to think about relationships. Not just romantic ones. Business ones as well. Focusing on the similarities between the two types of relationship is a great way to humanise your business. And have some fun along the way. Check out the following... Eye your targets In terms of romance, you have a type. Most of us lean towards a certain hair colour, height, build, personality, sense of humour, etc. Businesse

Photo: NBC News No, I don’t mean Trump. We know the answer to that. I mean the word ‘he’. Along with ‘she’, ‘he’ is technically known as a third-person singular pronoun. Those words conventionally act like lexical avatars, standing in for someone previously mentioned in the text. Sorry, that was a bit of a mouthful. I’ll explain it with a very, very simple example. I’ll use Trump for this. If I wrote: ‘Trump has left the White House’, I could follow it up with something like:

Photo: majorten.com ENGLISH IS BAFFLING, isn't it? No wonder. It’s a real mongrel language, influenced by German, Greek and Latin in particular. We stole pyjamas and bungalows from India. We plundered French cafés and restaurants. We pulled chocolate and moccasins right out of the hands of native Americans. And Japanese pub singers were enjoying karaokes well before we jumped on stage. So, if you can’t stay composed enough to compose, if you think grammar is more grating than

Photo: BBC MAJOR BRAND NAMES often talk about speaking with an authentic voice. When they say authentic, they tend to mean being genuine, being honest, keeping it real. Keep that in mind as you read the first words on Dove’s website: Welcome to Dove… the home of real beauty. For over a decade, we've been working to make beauty a source of confidence, not anxiety, and here's where the journey continues. Older, greyer, fatter models Dove backs up this statement with promotions

Jonathan Van Tam wows the internet. Photo: politicshome.com ENGLAND’S DEPUTY CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER has a cure for people who don’t understand stuff. Metaphors. Jonathan Van-Tam’s colourful comparisons have been winning him fans all over the internet. Just look at what Char says on Twitter: “I’m thinking of starting a little #JVT fan club. He has a way of explaining things that makes sense and he is very authentic in his delivery.” I hate to say I told you so, but… I couldn’t

Photo: indiewire.com PROPOSALS. MEASURES. ACTIONS. Controls. Protocols. Obstructions. Moves. Deterrents. Limits. Bounds. Brakes. If episode eight in the fourth series of Netflix’s The Crown is to be believed, the above 11 words were all rejected by Margaret Thatcher in 1986. The then prime minister didn’t feel able to sign a document agreeing to sanctions against South Africa containing any of them. She eventually settled on ‘signals’. Yes, signals is synonymous with, or simi

Photo: Pixabay MANY BUSINESSPEOPLE will feel like pulling their hair out today. But, the bald fact is (ho-ho) that while lockdown 2 will force a slow down, it doesn’t have to be a follicly challenging time for owners. It’s a very good time to make a start on at least some of the things that usually languish at the bottom of ‘to-do’ lists during ‘normal time’. Getting systems, security and cyber up to speed is one thing (actually, it’s three things). And keeping customers upda

Photo: Tony Hernadez/Unsplash HALLOWEEN REMINDS US OF one spooky fact: the meaning of words shifts around like ghosts floating through the night. There’s a tendency to think the meaning of words is fixed. Often, it isn’t. If you’re not convinced, try this. On 31 October, when there’s a knock at your front door, be prepared. It’s probably just a gang of kids in ghostly garms bought from the Pound Shop. They may be carrying a carved pumpkin whose flickering candle-flame will ad

Photo of Gavin Williamson by the BBC GAVIN WILLIAMSON SAYS he is “incredibly sorry for the distress” caused to pupils after having to make a U-turn in how A-levels and GCSEs are graded. The tail-between-his-legs education secretary is probably also feeling a bit sorry for himself – though he'd be wise not to say as much at this stage – for thinking an algorithm was better at making assessments than teachers. Algorithms, it seems, don’t know it all. Let’s remind ourselves what

Photo: The Guardian BUSINESSPEOPLE. YOUR CUSTOMERS KNOW what you do. After all, you promote what you do on a regular basis so they can decide whether they want to buy your products or services. For example, if you’re a hairdresser, you let people know you cut, colour and curl hair. (Apologies to all hairdressers: I appreciate there’s a bit more to it than that.) You either have a salon or you may have a mobile set-up, whereby you provide your hairdressing services within your

Photo: Sam Williams/Pixabay “THE JOB IS CHALLENGING. But we have a good team. And we’re all trained to diffuse situations and contain physical outbursts.” I received this exact message during the week from a nurse working in mental health. Spot anything wrong with it? I’m not talking about the fact that she played down what is clearly an extremely difficult job. I’m talking about one of the words she used. Calm offensive In case you missed it, what she meant to write was that