New York City has a new program to encourage parents to talk to their babies. Its tagline is “Talk to Your Baby, Their Brain Depends On It.” When I first read that, I had a vision of some sort of collective baby with a single brain.
In spoken language, it’s... (Read More)
“I spent a lot of time in his office, talking commas,” recalled John McPhee in an interview with the Paris Review. McPhee was describing what it was like to work with William Shawn, the illustrious former editor of The New Yorker magazine. “He explained everything with absolute patience, going through... (Read More)
“Any woman should run a mile from a man who uses the verb ‘incentivize.’” So wrote Anthony Lane in his New Yorker review of the movie Fifty Shades of Grey.
Sound advice—and not just for women on the dating circuit. People in business should run from the word, too. It’s... (Read More)
What is off in these three sentences?
I received an email the other day from someone who sends a monthly financial newsletter. He opened his email with the following sentence:
This issue is packed with useful information and unique insights that will no doubt expand your understanding about economic issues that effect us all.
The writer should... (Read More)
A few weeks ago, when a hedge fund took a hit after some poor forecasts about the Greek political scene, the fund’s founders sent this message to their investors: “We are reticent to render decisive predictions at this time.”
They meant reluctant, which means unwilling or disinclined to do something.
... (Read More)When I came here, I was asked to lead the auction house to a new place, and we have successfully done that.
We elevated the collection of handbags to a place nobody had done before.
Your mission will be to develop a vision for how to take these already successful... (Read More)
The February issue of Vogue arrived, and I curled up to have a look at the super sexy dresses for spring. But first I read Anna Wintour’s account of Condé Nast’s relocation to 1 World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan. “News of our move may or may not have come... (Read More)
Thank you for your business and support, we look forward to years of continued success and partnership.
No, that’s not my 2014 holiday greeting to you.
It was the copy on a pretty card I wanted to buy for my clients but couldn’t because of the comma splice. My credibility... (Read More)
The other day I read an opinion piece in The New York Times called “The ‘Kind of, Sort of’ Era” about our habit of using terms like kind of and sort of to take a little something away from what we’re saying, for whatever reason.
The next day I... (Read More)
