http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/?utm_source=rss Ad and marketing creatives Copyright 2009, Thinkmap Inc. All Rights Reserved. en Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/images/common/logo_on_white.gif http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/?utm_source=rss Search for a word in the Visual Thesaurus word http://www.visualthesaurus.com Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/2042?utm_source=rss It really bugs me when I hear someone use the word "individual" when all they mean is "person." It happens a lot with law-enforcement spokespeople. They also tend to say "vehicle" when they could say "car" or "truck." Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/2042 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/2035?utm_source=rss You can read it. You can watch it. You can talk about it online with your friends. It's a sort of picture book — or, more precisely, a moving-picture book — but its inventors call it a Vook. That's Vook as in video + book. Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/2035 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/2016?utm_source=rss The passing of New York Times language columnist William Safire has been well noted here (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2000) (by VT executive producer Ben Zimmer) and elsewhere (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2001). The death of Edward Gelsthorpe, who died September 12 and whose Times obituary appeared directly beneath Safire's on September 28, has been less commented on. Yet in his way Gelsthorpe had almost as powerful an influence on the world of words as did Safire. Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/2016 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1994?utm_source=rss Want to avoid using words that "sound somewhat like the ones intended but are ludicrously wrong in the context"? Let our Editorial Emergency team, Simon Glickman and Julia Rubiner, help you to avoid coming off like the reincarnation of Mrs. Malaprop! Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1994 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1979?utm_source=rss Have you heard? This economic slump we're in isn't just a recession: it's a mancession — a downturn that hurts men more than women. The term has been popularized by a University of Michigan economics and finance professor, Mark J. Perry, whose Carpe Diem blog employs lots of charts and graphs to drive home the point that male workers are taking it on the chin. That's bad news. But it turns out there's one sector men in which men are doing just dandy. I refer, of course, to the market in man-words and man-brands. Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1979 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1954?utm_source=rss Admit it — you're afraid of semicolons. Lots of folks, even professional writers, will cop to this phobia. No fear? Prove it (or engage in a little immersion therapy) by reviewing the following pairs of independent clauses and identifying the ones that would be better served by a semicolon than the period you see there now. Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1954 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1946?utm_source=rss The minimalist billboard gets our attention: black capital letters against a stark white background. But the words spelled out by those letters are cryptic: SWORE RAY. Swore Ray? Ray swore? What did he say? And what do his profanities have to do with the advertiser, the Monte Carlo resort and casino in Las Vegas? Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1946 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1886?utm_source=rss Microsoft's new search engine may not vanquish Google, but it certainly has captured a huge share of attention among everyone interested in brand names. In case you missed the news reports or the relentless ads (http://youtube.com/bing), Microsoft launched Bing (http://www.bing.com/) at the end of May. Almost immediately, there was speculation about what the name was intended to mean or evoke. Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1886 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1884?utm_source=rss On July 7, 2009, NBC Universal's Sci Fi Channel — the network responsible for the hit series "Battlestar Galactica" and such original movies as "Ice Spiders," "Android Apocalypse" and "Mansquito" — will complete a radical rebranding process. When it emerges from the laboratory, it will offer a retooled programming menu and a new name: Syfy (http://www.SyFy.com). Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1884 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1854?utm_source=rss Apparently, "impactful" is a word (and by this I mean it's recognized by a handful of reasonably reputable sources). I choose not to use it, however. I think it sounds horrible, like an impacted wisdom tooth or, heaven forefend, an impacted bowel. Mon, 18 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1854