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Why the Best Writers Have the Most Emotional Intelligence
Wed Jul 19 00:01:00 EDT 2017
Emotional Intelligence might sound like another woo-woo, New Age theory. In fact, it is a scientifically proven phenomenon that has huge implications for all of us. Especially writers.
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Evasive Maneuvers
Breadcrumbing Challenges in the Environmental Park
Wed Jul 12 00:00:00 EDT 2017
One purpose of slang is to keep illegal doings off the radar of any noisy bystanders, especially cops. So even though slang and euphemisms tend to be on opposite ends of the honesty scale, they can both be used as cloaking devices.
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Language Lounge
Be Thorough, Like Thoreau
Wed Jul 05 00:01:00 EDT 2017
July 12th marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Henry David Thoreau. It is a suitable time to examine his legacy, which comes to us almost entirely in the form of his writing.
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Candlepower
Nothing Succeeds Like Failure
Fri Jun 30 00:01:00 EDT 2017
In many areas of business and personal life, failure is being redefined as either a challenge that can be overcome with the right coaching or attitude – or, at the extreme, as a source of pride. What's behind this upbeat sense of what it means to fail?
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Word Count
Why We Should Want to Fail As Writers
Fri Jun 16 00:01:00 EDT 2017
I'm a big believer in making mistakes. This is because mistakes show you're pushing yourself. You're trying to learn new things. You're trying to get better at what you do.
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Evasive Maneuvers
An Independent Supply of Slightly More Colorful Language
Mon Jun 05 00:01:00 EDT 2017
Do you have a transfusion specialist? Transfusion specialist is a euphemism for blood boy: a young, healthy fella who the wealthy pay for their invigorating blood. This term comes from the land of fiction, but treating youthful blood as a fountain of youth is all-too-real. Whether you're young enough to sell your blood for a pretty penny or old enough to prey on the young like Nosferatu, I hope you can appreciate a heaping helping of hokum.
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Language Lounge
Add (or Subtract!) Your Voice
Thu Jun 01 00:01:00 EDT 2017
Eight pairs of sounds that are scattered across the lexicon of English support Henry Fowler's observation that relations among words in English come to us from our forefathers as an odd jumble and plainly show that the language has not been neatly constructed by a master builder who could create each part to do the exact work required of it, neither overlapped or overlapping; far from that, its parts have had to grow as they could.
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Word Count
Why You Should Stop Multi-tasking
Mon May 15 00:01:00 EDT 2017
Ask yourself: Is there anything so urgent that it cannot wait for a mere 60 minutes? Then turn off your email and phone and start to write.
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Evasive Maneuvers
Re-accommodating the Latest Euphemistic Twaddle
Fri May 05 00:00:00 EDT 2017
By now, you've likely heard about an awful incident in which a man was viciously dragged off an overbooked United flight. You've likely also heard about the euphemism United CEO Oscar Munoz used in the immediate aftermath: "I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers." Deep down, we're all clueless airline executives. When we're ashamed or just want to dodge blame, we use or concoct terms that create a bubble of balderdash around the truth. Here are some of the latest and lamest.
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Language Lounge
First Past the Post
Mon May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2017
I have long been a bit disposed (and definitely not predisposed) to peeve about pre- words that don't really require pre-. Lately I have added a new peeve, actually a lexicographer's lament, about words that begin with the complementary prefix post-. These two prefixes share the quality of suggesting a timeline, and the problematic nature of both of them arises when the reader or listener isn't quite clear on where to land on that timeline, or what is happening there.
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