I just wait to read Steve Crescenzo’s article in CW magazine , because he says the most important things about writing and newsletters, in the most amusing way.
The latest issue (July-Aug 05) is about "Giving the CEO message a makeover." He doesn’t ask yo to kill the boring "letter from the CEO" (you know the column that nobody reads but few are courageous to admit it) but to give the CEO’s writing some -how to put this– cosmetology.
The 3 most offending elements, he says, are the lousy executive photo, the headline (which is predictably weak because the letter zero news) and the language itself. He is so right. CEO’s in formal settings talk in a strange language –an ancient English dialect spoken in the boardroom, perhaps. Here’s a quote from Crescenzo on why the badly written CEO column is a waste of newsletter real estate.
"Believe me, when a CEO goes home at the end of the day, he doesn’t say to his wife, "Honey, as we about to transition from dinner table to the bedroom, we need to proactively reassess your core competencies, and maybe shift some paradigms.."
This CEO-speak is caused by what he calls ‘homicide detective syndrome.’ What’s that? On TV, a cop says things like "we apprehended the alleged perpetrator." When the detective gets home he would say "We caught the dirtbag."
I happen to design and publish newsletters, so I see this on a regular basis. (Brochure-speak is a subset of CEO-speak but that’s another topic.) We once did a study of whether we should replace the printed newsletter with an online edition. Readers said no! The dirty little secret in this can-you-PDF-my-Blackberry age is that people who defend digital products to death, still enjoy a good read when it’s in print –especially when the stories involve lots of ‘dirtbags,’ not ‘perpetrators.’
Hoipolloireport 
Dirtbags, sound bites and clarity
How difficult is it to speak or write clearly? How difficult is it to say or write something so clearly that its meaning is immediately apparent and not easily misinterpreted? It’s something that’s talked about often among those who claim to be profess…
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Dirtbags, sound bites and clarity
How difficult is it to speak or write clearly? How difficult is it to say or write something so clearly that its meaning is immediately apparent and not easily misinterpreted? It’s something that’s talked about often among those who claim to be profess…
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Dear Angelo
I wondered if you might like a link to both my Foreign word site and my English word website or press release details of my ensuing book with Penguin Press on amusing and interesting English vocabulary?
http://www.thewonderofwhiffling.com
with best wishes
Adam Jacot de Boinod
(author of The Meaning of Tingo)
(www.themeaningoftingo.com)
adamjacot@fastmail.co.uk
or wish to include:
1) THE MEANING OF TINGO
When photographers attempt to bring out our smiling faces by asking us
to “Say Cheese”, many countries appear to follow suit with English
equivalents. In Spanish however they say patata (potato), in Argentinian Spanish whisky, in French steak frites, in Serbia ptica (bird) and in
Danish appelsin (orange). Do you know of any other varieties from around the world’s languages? See more on http://www.themeaningoftingo.com
2) THE WONDER OF WHIFFLING
The Wonder of Whiffling is a tour of English around the globe (with fine
coinages from our English-speaking cousins across the pond, Down Under
and elsewhere).
Discover all sorts of words you’ve always wished existed but never knew,
such as fornale, to spend one’s money before it has been earned; cagg, a solemn vow or resolution not to get drunk for a certain time; and
petrichor, the pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a
dry spell.
Delving passionately into the English language, I also discover why it
is you wouldn’t want to have dinner with a vice admiral of the narrow
seas, why Jacobites toasted the little gentleman in black velvet, and
why a Nottingham Goodnight is better than one from anywhere else. See
more on http://www.thewonderofwhiffling.com
with best wishes
Adam
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