The inaugural Copy Cabana copywriting conference held yesterday at Silicon Beach in Bournemouth exceeded all my expectations. While it’s still fresh in my mind, I thought I’d share my favourite talks from the day – along with my key takeaways (which may well… I’ve a confession: I loved the ’80s. The music, the fashion, the hair… Well, OK, […]
Home › Freelancing › Singing for our supper: 21 qualities X Factor contestants and copywriters need to succeed Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve probably noticed that The X Factor is back on our screens for its 12th series. Love it or hate it – I’m a fan but not an addict – […]
If you’re a grammar pedant like me, signs like this – or ones advertising CD’s For Sale – will most likely make your toes curl and set your teeth on edge. Yet the majority of people have become so used to… The English language is positively brimming with acronyms, such as ASAP, B2B, FAQ and TLC. […]
Home › Archive for Miscellaneous 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,… Back in the ‘old days’ it was simple. If you […]
As a linguist, I’m always fascinated by how people in other countries use completely different words to effectively say the same thing. For this week’s blog post, I’ve therefore rounded up the many versions of Merry Christmas, Happy Christmas or…
Home › Posts tagged Europe Following the historic EU referendum result, I keep hearing – and reading – that “the UK is leaving Europe”. Or that “Britain is leaving the EU”. Both of these statements are, in fact, incorrect. And difficult for a pedant like me… I’ve been a bit remiss with my blogging lately, but […]
Home › Posts tagged review This time last week I joined some 200 of my peers at Copy Cabana 2017 – the 2nd copywriters’ conference to be held in (not quite so sunny) Bournemouth. The event’s tagline is “Prepare to celebrate the life linguistic”. It certainly delivered on its… The inaugural Copy Cabana copywriting conference held yesterday at Silicon Beach in […]
Numerous Latin phrases and abbreviations have endured the test of time to still feature in English today, especially in the field of business and law. Yet many of them are incorrectly used, largely because people don’t always understand their specific purpose and… As writers we’re often encouraged to keep things short and to the point. After all, […]
Home › Posts tagged apostrophes I’ve recently noticed a growing trend of people misusing – or, to be precise, failing to use – apostrophes in expressions of time. It seems to be fairly widespread, ranging from emails and newsletter content to blog posts and social… You know that idiom that refers to comparing yourself to […]
Inspired by the OVO Energy Tour of Britain 2018 cycle race, which whizzed through leafy Warwickshire this week, I thought I’d check to see how many cycling phrases, idioms or other expressions I could find. Quite a few, as it… As the final of this year’s Eurovision hits our screens tonight, I thought it would […]
If you’re confused by terms like “PPC” and “CTR” – and completely baffled by “tags” and “bounce rates” – this beginner’s guide to key SEO terms is for you. Whether you’re a small business owner with your own website or you… Posted in SEO Tagged with: glossary, SEO, terminology, terms
Recent weeks have seen some pretty extreme weather conditions in certain parts of the world. While many Australians swelter in excessive heat, parts of the U.S. have – quite literally – been buried under several feet of snow. So it’s… Here in the Northern Hemisphere, winter is well underway – we’re not exactly snowed in in the UK, but […]
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 from the Latin brevis meaning ‘short’. But Latin abbreviations can be troublesome. So here’s a quick […]
Continuing my series of blog posts on idioms, this latest one unwraps a few of the most popular Christmas idioms and other holiday-related phrases and sayings. For those of you interested in word origins, I’ve also included links to extra information where I could find it. ‘Tis the season to feast on Christmas idioms Bah! Humbug! = […]