Have a bit of fun vocabulary testing (or learning, as the case may be!) with Merriam-Webster’s free Name That Thing quizzes! http://www.merriam-webster.com/namethatthing/index.htm#quiz-top

From PR Daily: Put that jargon to good use: play “Word Quest” in your next meeting! http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/9866.aspx

Of course, it’s generally best to AVOID using jargon when talking to people outside your specialty area, but this lets you have some fun with it when you’re not at risk of making your listener (or reader) feel uninformed!

It’s always interesting to get the day’s word (sometimes it’s a phrase) of the day from the extremely diverse Urban Dictionary. Today’s seems particularly apropos for a holiday as many of us may find ourselves working on a day that is supposed to be a day off from labors and appreciation of the labors of others. For those of us in the communications realm, I actually recommend you check out any words or phrases you may have any question about on the www.urbandictionary.com site as you may be surprised at some of the street/urban meanings for things you thought were pretty innocuous!

Here’s the definition for today:

<snip>

September 6: workweek creep

1) Constant connectivity via your smartphone and computer blurs the boundaries between your work life and your personal life.

2) Constant connectivity at work via e-mail & chat, results in so many interruptions that you cannot get blocks of time to do any thinking, resulting in you catching up on your work at home on nights and weekends.

<end snip>

Here’s a link to an interesting content grid/graphic from Eloqua.com: http://bit.ly/czcccS

It illustrates both centralized and decentralized communications and categorizes them by whether they create/contribute to awareness or consideration while also identifying type, channel, two-way channel, or data rich.  As with all communications about your product or service, it’s critical to be clear about not only your objective but the means and language you use to convey it so that you’re differentiating yourself and using language and messaging that is appropriate for your prospective clients. And, as always, remember it’s not just about the words–it’s also spelling them right and punctuating them correctly, too, so you don’t disable your message regardless of the channel!

Eloqua’s Grand Guide premise is simple: Don’t try to boil the ocean. Instead, help marketers overcome one challenge at a time.

According to Facebook, “Starting today people will be able to connect with your Page by clicking “Like” rather than “Become a Fan.” We hope this action will feel much more lightweight, and that it will increase the number of connections made across the site.”

Please note that this may also impact the language in some of your marketing materials where you may have invited prospective followers to become “Fans.”

I just read a great piece from Rob Reinalda at Ragan.com on how language gets mangled with some tips for how to avoid making such errors: http://bit.ly/dk3wae Sometimes it’s just that people don’t hear the word right in the first place, and Reinalda advises that “Questioning meaning can help you avoid misusing ‘familiar’ terms.” One of his examples is the unword “supposably.”

A first cousin to this syndrome is the butchering of song lyrics, sometimes with funny or embarrassing results especially when sung exuberantly by a music lover who didn’t quite get the words the way they were intended. You can check some of those out at http://www.kissthisguy.com/, the Archive of Misheard Lyrics, which designates some as the funniest or most absurd of the week while showing what the lyrics really were. Even the the national anthem has gotten contorted into some intriguing or just-plain-funny takes on it. Reinalda’s piece touches on those mangled words and phrases–many of which we start to associate with certain individuals. Most of us DO have some language blind spots. And, with a little “need more coffee” digression here, I think many of us have typing blind spots, too. Do you ever find that there are some words that your fingers just want to type with transposed letters? I used to find that I’d type “teh” instead of “the”? What IS that about, anyway, and why do these seem to be so different for each person? We’re told that we can take solace from knowing that it happens to incredibly gifted writers and journalists frequently, too. At least technology is helping us out a bit on the typing front, as you can set up your custom dictionary in Word to autocorrect common mistakes you know you’re making, though–such as my “teh” typing foible!

Feel free to post your thoughts on other tin-ear language mistakes you’ve heard (and don’t hesitate to share if you have any fat-fingered typing mistakes that you keep having to deal with, too!). When you hear them, do you tend to just let them go or do you ever correct the speaker especially if it’s a professional colleague or friend who you may really wish to help? There are definitely some alligators in that water as it’s a sensitive subject even if you’re intending to be proactive.

I just came across a great piece on the power of the word and how key it is to avoid “puffery” in our business and personal communications written by Michael Port, Contributing Editor for Entrepreneur, featured on the American Express OPEN Forum.

Here are just some of his observations from that article that apply to virtually any sales, staff, or client meeting as well as advertising and personal connections: “Most of the actions or activities people engage in, both personally and professionally, are carried out through conversation, so our use of language is a powerful tool for building or breaking trust. If you can’t back up your puffery or prove the generalizations you make, it’ll be difficult to engender much trust.” As Port cites in his post, “All generalities are false, including this one.”

You can keep reading here: http://bit.ly/bddrX4

Dave Johnson on BNET posted a great blog piece entitled “10 Fatal Mistakes Managers Make in E-Mail” (though I feel that these caveats really apply to virtually everyone using e-mail, not just managers). Of course, gotta love that one of them is “Using poor grammar and style”! See http://bit.ly/bc94Ga

BTW, item #2 on the list refers to using Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF) and not burying the lede of your e-mail message too far into the correspondence. BTW, to clarify the “lede” reference, The New York Times blog entitled The Lede describes it as follows: “. . . a newspaper’s front page is the main story; the lede of an article is the way it begins: the statement of facts or the anecdote that the writer lays out to lead readers into a story.” You can check out that blog @ http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/about-the-lede/

If your company doesn’t already have an e-mail policy with guidelines in place, it’s a good idea to add one or have one created for you. It’s best to include guidelines regarding what font to use (this can impact how e-mail presents on mobile devices in particular), what contact or signature information should be included, and whether a disclaimer is to be used, etc., as well as what the organization feels should not be included, such as political, sports, or other non-business-related statements or logos of personal interest to the writer, to help ensure a consistent, professional appearance and impression.

While it may sound a bit comical to some, National Grammar Day and other events and sites promoting the importance of good grammar actually do mean something worth noting.

Check out Facebook and you might be surprised to see how many groups exist that are dedicated just to the promotion of using the language properly and making it clear that more people notice typos, poor style, and bad punctuation than you may think. Here are a few of these Facebook groups… and there are legions of others elsewhere on the Web:

• Good Grammar Is Hot
• Martha Brockenbrough, National Grammar Day founder and founder of the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar (SPOGG)
• I judge you when you use poor grammar
• I know the difference between “there”, “their” and “they’re”. (now that one has punctuation issues as commas should go INSIDE the closing quote mark, but THEIR hearts are in the right place!)

The host of this year’s National Grammar Day, the bright and clever Mignon Fogarty—Grammar Girl herself–has posted the following on her site:

<snip>As National Grammar Day’s Language is something to be celebrated, and March 4 is the perfect day to do it. It’s not only a date, it’s an imperative: March forth on March 4 to speak well, write well, and help others do the same! <end snip>

It’s a good day to reflect on the caliber of your written communications, including e-mails, blog posts, Tweets, brochures, trade-show collateral, and all of the rest, including your business cards, which don’t have a lot of real estate but are critical to messaging who you are. Hiring a professional to do your graphic and Web design is key, as well—but the messaging that goes with it can make or break how you are perceived. I have built strategic partnerships/alliances with some amazing, professional, and truly creative designers specifically to ensure that the messaging and look and functionality of any communication are all working in concert with each other without any of those elements disabling the impression you make.

The National Grammar Day site, http://nationalgrammarday.com/, even has games and other celebratory events…My suggestion? Have fun with it while not disregarding its importance.

I came across this short piece entitled Using Proper English Grammar Is Important for Businesses at http://tinyurl.com/ya55w9f that warrants a look. It emphasizes one key point, which is that while many business owners think that they don’t need to be overly concerned about the grammar, punctuation, and style used in their business communications as if “close” were good enough—poor written communications can actually disable the impression you are working so hard to accomplish.

Of course, as helping clients with refining their messaging on the Web, in advertising and printed collateral, press releases, and in e-newsletters is one of the most-important services I offer, it’s wonderful to see others opine (and evangelize) on the importance of using the language properly.

Though I’ve mentioned Mignon Fogarty—Grammar Girl—in other posts, I still heartily recommend buying her CD set Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips to Better Business Writing that is featured on the Resources page of my site at  http://www.thegordongroupllc.com/resources/ as one of the easiest (and actually fun!) ways to brush up on some of the quirks of the English language that can stymie even the best of us. She also has a free e-newsletter that features a language challenge (such as the difference between “flesh out” and “flush out,” which was addressed a couple of weeks ago) and current thinking on the subject, often with amusing examples. She has lots of smarts and humor, and her podcasts are among the most popular in history!