Word of the Day: Passionate
People might speak of being passionate about art, music, or cooking… or ‘delivering cost-effective digital solutions that maximise customer benefit…’
When to hyphenate ‘up to date’
Editors and grammar geeks are strange people. The internet is full of these strange people shaking their metaphorical fists over punctuation points, word usage or grammatical constructions... But sometimes they're right!
Word of the Day: Anaphora
Anaphora is a powerful rhetorical device used for impact by everyone from Charles Dickens to Justin Bieber.
The Emperor has no clothes
Marketing is part art, part science… But couldn’t we start bringing a bit more science into it? Evidence-based, real user experience enhancements?
Word of the Day: Swive
At one point, I’ve read, this was the most offensive word in English.
Word of the Day: Epizuexis
This is both a Word of the Day and a figure of speech. (Double word score?) Definition: Repeating a word (or phrase) for emphasis. (Usually 3 times.) For example, if you asked me what I did over Christmas, I might say: Eat and drink, eat and drink, eat and drink. At which point, you might [...]
Image crafting, priming and ranting…
Do you ever get the feeling that there’s a lot more going on in the world then you can get at? Articles that are 'all tip and no iceberg'?
What Not to Cook: Doom Juice (AKA Chilli Sauce)
Chillies are rad. This is a known fact. What's not so known is that they originated in the Americas, and weren't brought to Asia—the place people generally associate them with—until the 16th century by the Portuguese. Christopher Columbus brought a boatload back from one of his expeditions, believing it to be actual pepper. It wasn't.
Indian English: Preponing the tiffin
India has a lot of languages—according to a 2001 census, there were 29 different languages in India that had at least a million native speakers each. The official language is Hindi—but English in India is a rich variant in its own right.
Word of the Day: Cimicine
Definition: Smelling like bugs. (Or, the actual noun for bug secretions…) Cimicine is one of those wonderfully specific descriptive words that lends itself well to erudite-sounding insults. The pie was cold, and the salad was warm. The meal was served with a weak, cimicine cocktail, which made me wish I’d kept my 16 dollars and [...]