Topic : AdvertisingLanguage LoungeA Monthly Column for Word LoversDubiously Distinguished January 1, 2020 By Orin Hargraves
We are now far beyond the day when a product might be distinguished from its competitors with descriptors such as mild, strong, or rich. Lately I'm noticing what is surely a very common trope in consumer marketing: the enhancement of an adjectival descriptor for a product by introducing it with an adverbial.
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influencer – the word, not the status – is one of the most influential buzzwords of our era.
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For a while, the trendy prefixes i- and e- may have been flashy signposts for this new era, but go communicates what they couldn't: urgency, energy, and, most of all, mobility.
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Article Topics:Evasive ManeuversEuphemisms old and newHeavy Episodic Malarkey and Other Formulated Fluff May 7, 2018 By Mark Peters
One variant of the perfect euphemism combines optimism and nonsense in a sandwich of slop. Speaking of slop, my euphemism mop wiped up the following terms from the drippy drivel of 2018. Enjoy and employ these terms, but keep a twaddle towel handy.
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English loves its o-ending words with a curious fervor, considering how seldom they occur naturally in our mother tongue. For centuries, we've made up for that lack by importing or coining words that end in o.
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Article Topics:CandlepowerAd and marketing creativesBrand Names of the Year for 2017 December 11, 2017 By Nancy Friedman
At the end of each year, while linguists and lexicographers cast votes for words of the year, I'm compiling a different list: the brand names that distilled the mood of the previous twelve months. To narrow the field, I add another criterion: the brand names must be linguistically notable.
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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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