Category: language

By Posted on Posted in Copywriting, Energy & Sustainability, language, Uncategorized Tagged with , , , ,

From a Starbucks press release–the second sentence in the first paragraph, and within the quote, I’ve linked to the full press release:

With the goal of prioritization and agreement on criteria for a comprehensive recyclable cup solution, discussions will address obstacles and opportunities.

Who writes this crap? I’m sorry, but that’s not English. Will someone please tell Starbucks that the purpose of a press release is to communicate, not to obfuscate? Especially when there actually is real news buried under the blather: First, that the chain is committing to 100% recyclable cups within three years, and second, that systems theorist Peter Senge will moderate a summit on the topic.

So why not say so without making people dig for it? If it had been my assignment to write this press release, you can bet it would have gotten right to the point and been understandable by ordinary people.

Starbucks of course is not the only offender. But a press release like this is useless. You want to tell the story, not hide it.

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By Posted on Posted in Ethics: General, language Tagged with ,

Call me old-fashioned, but I reject the transition of “pimp” form a negative noun–a man who rents out the bodies of women he controls (and a verb to describe that action)–to a positive verb, to make something look classy and flashy by adding gizmos and gewgaws and bling.

I don’t like it. Pimping is not a “virtue” I choose to support. I’m a wordsmith for a living–so let me propose some alternatives. We’ve got great nouns like swank or swanky, chic, glitzy, snazzy–can we turn them into verbs?
Swankify? (awkward-sounding). Chicken? (um, no, that’s taken). Snazz (I like that!). Sparkle? (already a verb, sure, why not). Glitter? Glisten? (ditto)

Let’s use our rich, rich language and banish “pimp” as a “good” verb. It’ll take some work. The phrase “pimp my” brings 10,900,000 search results, and I’m guessing almost all of them from the last two years. I’m not a language purist, believe me, but let’s put this one back in the bottle.

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By Posted on Posted in Ethics: General, language, People Helping People, Social and Economic Justice Tagged with , , ,

Bad enough that Arkansas State Senator Kim Hendren called Chuck Schumer ‘that Jew’–but even worse is the anti-Semitic trash talk from so many readers of the New York Daily News story about it.

Eeeew! In 2009, we should be better than that! In fact, that kind of racist crap should have been unacceptable in 1809. No matter what ethnic or racial group is being denigrated, the message needs to go out that this is unacceptable. I’m not blaming the Daily News for having an open comments page, but I wonder about these narrow-minded bigots who are posting.

Mind you, I’m one Jew who does NOT believe in “Israel right or wrong.” But I do believe in treating every person civilly, and in condemning racist behavior.

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