Thursday, April 23, 2009
Language Lesson: Helpful Hints During School Vacation
Boston Public Schools are on break this week, so I thought it might be a good time to tax your brain with important information regarding commonly misused words:1) ULTERIOR: I told my friend the other day that I thought his girl had ulterior motives (we were gmail chatting), and he quickly corrected me. "Dude - you mean ALTERIOR?" Um, no. That is not a word, though it would make sense if it were.
2) MOOT: If another person tells me that something is a "MUTE POINT," I might scream. The word is MOOT. It's not even pronounced the same. Some of you are skeptical right now. If you don't believe me, ask Webster.
3) 360: I'm cheating a little bit with this one, but what's up with people saying that someone did a "COMPLETE 360," meaning that they abruptly changed their behavior. That would be a 180. Remember Geometry class? If you don't, I think they still sell those plastic protractors at Office Max.
Other terms/words/phrases on which people need to be schooled? Post away.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Fifth and Final Facebook Etiquette Installment: Stop Trying So Hard
I know that I already spent some time schooling people on status updates, but apparently a follow up to the introductory course is necessary. I've already addressed the folks whose updates are entirely too mundane ("Joe is at work." "Jill is eating."), but now we have people who are trying to get far too deep . . . dare I say, existential. Examples: "Robert wonders what it all really means." "Candace is searching for an answer." Seriously - if you were really about getting at an essential truth, you'd be reading Nietzche, not posting photos of your sixth grade field trip to Canobie Lake Park.
Even worse than the enigmatic status updates are the ones that are desperate cries for help/attention/sympathy. "Keisha is ready to give up on dating altogether." "Kevin has been playing Sade on repeat all day, and now feels even worse." Obviously, there are times that we need to rely on our loved ones to offer some words of support. But should they come in the form of public comment? ("Keep your head up, Kevin. She isn't worth it.") Phone a friend if you're in crisis, please!
One last general piece of advice for all writers of online content. Stop writing "lol" at the end of your sentences. "Lol" is a response to someone else, not a tagline after your own joke. If it's funny, we'll laugh. We don't need a cue.
Sorry there's no picture with this post. But if you need a visual to accompany some of these bad online habits, you might only need to look in the mirror - lol. (See what I mean?)
