Ever find yourself with a burning grammatical question whilst away from your desk? Or need to settle a linguistic debate, such as whether to hyphenate coordinate? If so, help is at hand courtesy of a new writers’ app from London-based writing and…
A recent online chat with a graphic designer in Bristol (near my home town of Bath) reminded me of the different names we use for everyday objects. In this case it was footwear. Or, to be precise, canvas shoes. A dap…
To coincide with the latest series of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here, I thought it would be fun to compare life as a copywriter to that of a participant on this popular reality TV show. Drawing on my 18 years as a freelance copywriter and my dedication to the show, I feel fairly well equipped to […]
Back in the ‘old days’ it was simple. If you wanted to speak to a friend, you picked up the phone and dialed their number. On a landline. But these days you have to choose from an overwhelming array of…
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…
Turning down work as a freelancer is never easy, but I recently did just that. “What?” I hear you say. “You must be mad!” Perhaps. But I like to think it was a rational decision. And the right one for me. Let me explain my reasoning. In the client’s favour… On paper, it was an […]
Today is International Left-Handers Day, which was first celebrated in 1992 to promote awareness of left-handedness. From scissors and cooking utensils to musical instruments and computer mice, left-handed people are disadvantaged as they constantly adapt to a right-handed world. And neat handwriting can be a real challenge as they inadvertently drag the pen over the […]
This week’s blog post was inspired by an email I received from a work contact. After recently leaving an in-house position, she’s now dipping her toes into the world of freelancing. So she asked if I had any advice for people starting out or…
After visiting an eye-popping Op Art exhibition on the weekend, I felt inspired to research idioms about colours, shapes and patterns. In fact, I’m surprised I haven’t covered them already as part of my series! It turns out there are so…
At this time of year, many people automatically recycle their Christmas tree, greetings cards and wrapping paper. Some even repurpose cards into gift tags to use next year (I did it once, but keep forgetting to use them!). But have you thought about applying the same principle to old marketing content? Recycling content you’ve already researched 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…
If you stumble across a word with the prefix lex, there’s a pretty good chance that it will have something to do with words. But how many of the following words that start with lex did you already know? Words that…
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 seeing plural acronyms written like this that they assume it’s ‘correct’ English. How to make […]
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,…