As college students, we are taught to read and analyze literature or dense texts, and to elaborate our brilliant thoughts in complex sentences. Then we enter the real world, and it all goes out the window. Business writing coaches and style guides sing the praises of a “conversational” tone in writing. We are encouraged to communicate […]
Business writing
Stories and Fiction, Facts and Truth
Stories and fiction are not synonymous. Facts can mislead, and frequently do. Fictional stories can hold meaningful truths. Data can distract us. Whether we’re reading stories online or writing for others, we need to keep a few distinctions clear in our heads: stories vs. fiction, truth vs. facts, fibs vs. frauds. Stories and fiction For […]
An Interview with Karen Catlin on Language and Inclusion
When Words Close Doors How would you feel if you walked into an office party and no one made eye contact with you or spoke with you? You’d feel unwelcome, right? Certainly uncomfortable. Our brains experience something similar when we encounter language such as gender-specific pronouns that don’t include our own gender identity, or words […]
Email or Text – Why It Matters
If you want to communicate with a work colleague, do you compose an email or send a text? How about a family member? As a rule, do you prefer to text or to email? For most of us, the answer is it depends on the situation. But some people take sides. They insist on texting […]
How and Why to Filter the Jargon
Jargon – it’s the language we love to hate. We complain about encountering legal terms in packaging, or dense abstractions in academic journals. The term jargon brings a negative connotation of being pretentious and incomprehensible. Yet the much-maligned jargon has its place. It saves us a great deal of time. Industry-specific terms are how we […]
A Quick Trick for Writing Better Emails
You need something from a colleague, a vendor, a partner, a relative – what do you do? If you’re of a certain age, you write an email. You do it in hopes that something will happen as a result – the recipient(s) will take action, respond, whatever. Yet often, those emails go unnoticed, lingering unread […]
