July 2024

Every now and then I undertake a large proofreading job, such as a manual or an annual report. The most recent was a meaty 90,000-word operations manual. What I’ve noticed is that the same writing mistakes crop up time and…

As writers we’re often encouraged to keep things short and to the point. After all, “Brevity is the soul of wit”.[1] Many of the abbreviations we rely on in everyday English have Latin origins. In fact, the word abbreviation derives…

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I’ve blogged on the subject of names a few times. But thus far I’ve neglected to cover the singular most important one to me: my own. So this post aims to put that right. Even if it is a little indulgent. In…

Have you ever met someone whose surname was a perfect fit for the job they do? Or, indeed, an unfortunate pairing such as a goalkeeper called Dropsy*? I’ve been pondering writing about this subject for a while, inspired by Mr Macro –…

Most people are familiar with acronyms, homonyms, pseudonyms and synonyms. But there are several other words with the suffix –onym that I’ve only recently discovered. As a linguist and bit of a word nerd, my natural instinct is to investigate further…

Having previously written posts about baking, cooking and dancing related idioms to tie in with popular TV shows, it seems only right to turn to pottery as we approach the final of this year’s The Great Pottery Throw Down.

So, let’s crack on to discover which well-known pottery phrases I unearthed…

What a lot of pots

A pot (or crock) of gold = a large amount of money that someone hopes to get in the future

A watched pot never boils = the feeling that time seems to go slower when you’re anxiously waiting for something to happen

Fusspot = a person who fusses unnecessarily

Go potty = become irrational or crazy; become very excited or enthusiastic (about something)

Go to pot = be ruined; deteriorate through neglect

In the melting pot = likely to change; in the process of changing

Take potluck = eat whatever food has been prepared or is available

The pot calling the kettle black = someone making criticisms about someone else which could equally well apply to themselves

China calling

Bowl over = surprise someone greatly; astound; amaze

Feet of clay = a weakness perceived in someone held in high regard

Jug-eared = having ears that stick out markedly, resembling the handles of a jug

Like a bull in a china shop = behaving recklessly and clumsily in a place or situation where you’re likely to cause damage or injury

My old china (plate) = Cockney rhyming slang for ‘mate’

Not for all the tea in China = not at any price

On the tiles = out having a wild or enjoyable time, not returning home until late

The messy part

Asleep at the wheel = not attentive or alert; inactive

Fifth wheel = a superfluous or unnecessary person or thing

Glaze over = become glassy; lose clear vision (in reference to eyes)

Give someone the slip = evade or escape from someone

Let something slip = reveal something inadvertently in the course of conversation; fail to take advantage of an opportunity

Let something slip through one’s fingers = lose hold or possession of something; miss the opportunity of gaining something

Put a spin (on something) = twist or report a story to one’s advantage

Reinvent the wheel = waste time or effort in creating something that already exists or doing something that’s already been done

Slip up = make a blunder or mistake; fall over

The wheel has come full circle = being back at the point of departure

Throw down the gauntlet = issue a challenge to someone

Finishing touches

Cracked up to be = asserted to be (generally used in negative contexts to indicate that someone or something has been described too favourably)

Crackpot = crazy person; crank

Fire away = begin talking or asking questions

Get cracking = (start to) act quickly and energetically

Paper over the cracks = disguise problems or divisions rather than trying to solve them

Play with fire = take foolish risks

Scratch the surface = deal with a matter very superficially

I hope you’ve enjoyed this mixed bag of pottery phrases, idioms and sayings. Do let me know if I’ve missed any obvious ones and I’ll be glad to add them.

To finish off, here’s an old pottery quotation that caught my eye:

A vessel is formed from a lump of clay with care, however, it is the empty space within the vessel that makes it useful. – Laozi

Related

Like many others, I turned to various creative pursuits for a welcome distraction during lockdown. One of these was rediscovering a favourite childhood pastime: jigsaws.

Not only has this helped take my mind off other things these past few months, but you could even say I’ve become a bit of a jigsaw addict. More than a bit, if I’m honest!

But what’s all this got to do with copywriting? Well, it struck me recently that there are numerous similarities between the two activities.

At the top level, both involve piecing together multiple individual components to create the whole ‘picture’ – solving the puzzle, as it were. And if we look closer at the actual creative processes, here’s where we discover lots more similarities…

Be organised

Before diving into any copywriting job, it pays to do your research: understand the brief, identify the target audience, carry out online research etc. Before getting stuck into a jigsaw, it’s worth spending the time to sort the pieces. This might be by colour, shape or even size. At the very least it’s a good idea to find all the edge pieces first. In both cases you’ll probably end up having to do some adjustments as you go along, such as additional research or extra sifting. However, the more organised you are at the outset, the more productive you’re likely to be.

Prepare the framework

With most jigsaws, it helps to start off by joining up all the edge pieces. This shows you the overall size of the puzzle and therefore the scale of the task ahead! In copywriting terms, it helps to create a rough outline first. For example, if working on a blog post, this might be a working title and some provisional sub heads. Once the basic structure is in place, it’s then easier to start filling in the gaps.

Keep an open mind

Try to stay flexible. Just because it looks or sounds like something ‘belongs’, it doesn’t necessarily mean it does. There may be a better solution if you try it another way. This could be as simple as rotating a jigsaw piece or flipping a sentence back to front. But if it still doesn’t ‘fit’, don’t try to shoehorn it in.

Know when to move on

This advice applies whether you’re struggling to locate an elusive piece or conjure up a particular word/phrase. Rather than battling on and growing ever more frustrated, move on to another section. The difficult bit will still be there when you revisit it, but hopefully you’ll have some new ideas or inspiration by then.

Take a break

On that note, it’s important to take regular breaks so you come back to the task at hand with fresh eyes. It’s amazing what will jump out at you when you do. This might be a missing piece that you were convinced was never in the box. Maybe a glaring typo that you can’t believe you didn’t spot before. Or the perfect phrase that was lurking on the tip of your tongue.

Work piece by piece

While it’s important to keep an eye on the bigger picture (a.k.a. end result) it often pays to focus on one section at a time, rather than jumping about all over the place and forgetting where you’d got up to. It also prevents you from duplicating effort, trying things you’ve already tried but rejected.

Focus on the detail

With jigsaws and copywriting alike, small details can make a BIG difference. So look closely at the shape of or pattern on each puzzle piece. Take time to double check the spelling, grammar and punctuation in your written content. Attention to detail always pays off in the long run.

Enjoy the ride

Last but by no means least, enjoy the challenge and the sense of satisfaction when it all comes together! Then sit back and admire what you’ve created, before starting all over again on the next puzzle or piece of content…

So I hope you’ll agree that jigsaws and copywriting have more than a few things in common. If you can think of any other similarities between the two, do let me know in the comments below. Meanwhile, keeep puzzling!

Image: extract from ‘Colour Study of Squares’ by Wassily Kandinsky 

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Seeing as a large number of schoolchildren in the UK are currently in the midst of external exams – whether that’s GCSEs, AS levels or A2s – a blog post covering idioms about exams seemed to be the obvious contender for the next in my series.

As you would expect, most of the sayings in this list are focused around effort, success or failure.

For those of you like me who are interested in the etymology behind the idioms, I’ve also included some links to more information.

English idioms about exams: studying and results

Ace a test = obtain a very high score or an excellent result

Bone up on = study hard, usually in preparation for a test

Burn the candle at both ends = stay up late into the night and then get up early next day to carry on working

Burn the midnight oil = work late into the night

Come up trumps (or turn up trumps) = unexpectedly produce just what’s needed at the last moment

Dead cert = something that’s certain to happen or be achieved

Draw a blank = fail in attempts to remember something

Hit the books = begin to study hard

In a brown study = daydreaming or deeply contemplative

In the bag = virtually guaranteed; success assured (derived from the ‘game bags’ used to collect small game on hunting trips)

Keep your nose to the grindstone = apply yourself conscientiously to your work

Knuckle down = focus on a project or a task

Learn something off by heart = learn something in such a way that you can say it from memory

Make a pig’s ear of = botch something up; make a complete mess of something

Make the grade = be satisfactory and of an expected level

Moment of truth = critical or decisive time when you find out if your efforts have succeeded (i.e. results day)

On course for = likely to achieve something

Pass with flying colours = do very well in a test or exam

Rise to the occasion = manage to do something successfully in difficult circumstances

Sail through = succeed in doing something without difficulty.

Study animal = someone who studies hard (the opposite of a party animal)

If you enjoyed this collection of idioms about exams, you might also be interested in my post on school idioms.

Over to you

As usual, I learnt a couple of new idioms while putting this list together. I certainly hadn’t heard of “in a brown study” or a “study animal” before.

How about you? Any phrases here that were new to you? Or any idioms about exams that you think should be added to the list?

(students image courtesy of Ambro via Freedigitalphotos.net)

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Hot on the tails of my recent post on idioms about mums for Mother’s Day, this week’s blog takes a look at popular phrases and sayings related to Easter. Not surprisingly, most Easter idioms in English are associated with rabbits, chickens, eggs and…

As seems customary at this time of year, I’m taking the easy option this week and doing a blog review to see what worked and what didn’t. But instead of having to trawl through my blog’s stats for 2015, the kind people…

As yet another year draws to a close, it seems to be customary for bloggers to take a moment to reflect on their blog’s performance during the previous 12 months. This not only provides the opportunity to highlight some of their…

Posted in Blogging, Lists Tagged with: blog, posts, roundup

Whilst proofreading several websites and documents recently, one of the common mistakes I came across involved conjunctions.

Seeing as I haven’t written a grammar-related blog post for a while, I thought it would make a good topic for this week’s article.

What is a conjunction?

The word conjunction derives from the Latin verb coniungere, meaning “to join together”. As their name suggests, conjunctions (also known as connectives) are used to link words, phrases, clauses or sentences together – creating a transition between different thoughts, whether related or unrelated.

There are two main types of conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions and subordinate conjunctions.

Coordinating conjunctions join elements of a sentence that are of equal importance. An easy way to remember them is with the mnemonic device FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.

Subordinate conjunctions, such as although, because, if and until, connect subordinate clauses to the main clause of a sentence. A subordinate clause depends on the main clause for its meaning and therefore doesn’t work by itself.

Never start a sentence with a conjunction

You’ll most likely recognise this as one of the grammar ‘rules’ learned at school. But (see what I did there?) it is, in fact, a myth – albeit one that’s widely recognised and often still taught to English students.

According to Oxford Dictionaries, this grammatical ‘superstition’ arises from the thought that because words such as and or but are used to connect separate clauses, they suggest the presence of an incomplete thought – or ‘fragment’ – when used to introduce a sentence.

Whether it’s for use in literature, journalism, advertising or speeches, most highly respected grammar and usage guides agree that it’s perfectly acceptable to use conjunctions to begin sentences.

This stylistic preference is used to interrupt the rhythm – adding a pause for dramatic or forceful effect. It’s best not to be too liberal with the technique though; otherwise the effect will be diluted.

However, in more formal writing or where you want the sentence to flow, it’s generally best to combine the two phrases together.

Which leads me nicely to the next point…

How to punctuate conjunctions

The general rule of thumb is that if a conjunction joins two words, it doesn’t need punctuation. For example,

The weather was cold but sunny.

She likes sweets and chocolate.

When a conjunction joins two independent clauses (i.e. standalone ‘sentences’), it’s usual to put a comma before it. For example,

I remember what it’s like to learn to drive, so I try to be patient when I’m following a learner.

I stayed up late last night, because I only had three chapters of my book left to read.

However, if the two independent clauses are very short, it’s optional – for stylistic purposes – to omit the comma. Both versions below are therefore correct.

I stayed up until he came home. / I stayed up, until he came home.

You should go to bed because it’s school tomorrow. / You should go to bed, because it’s school tomorrow.

All of this is explained very succinctly on Grammar Monster, along with guidance on using a comma before a conjunction in a list – which largely depends on where you stand regarding the Oxford Comma.

And that’s one to be saved for another day, another blog post…

(image courtesy of Witthaya Phonsawat via Freedigitalphotos.net)

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