language

Are We Becoming too Reliant on Emoticons?

December 11, 2013 By Erin Beasley

The other day, I asked people what they thought about using emoticons in professional correspondence. The answers I received were unsurprising; flat-out refusals abounded as well as a few responses that offered a more balanced perspective. Emoticons could be allowable if the professional contact was known well, possibly outside professional circles. Even then, most of the responders expressed a hesitance toward using them. It just seemed not quite professional or undercut the image they were trying to portray.

Write Right: Couple, Few, Some, Several, Many

May 22, 2013 By Erin Beasley

A couple, few, some, several, and many walk into a bar…Oh, wait, that isn’t right. Let’s restart.

I confess I thought actual rules existed in regard to “couple,” “few,” “some,” “several,” and “many.” I was mistaken. There are no firm rules, only guidelines, and those are based on what sound and feel right.

How to Break and Rebuild Things

October 31, 2012 By Erin Beasley

In the first Tomb Raider film, Lara Croft finds a clock that contains a clue. Her butler decides to dismantle the clock piece by piece, screw by screw. He creates a diagram and numbers each piece. He wants to put the clock back together after he finds the clue.

Using Language to Open Worlds

June 21, 2012 By Erin Beasley

If I were to say I saw an O’Malley cat, only three people would know to what I’m referring: my brothers, Nathan and Kyle, and our mom. People who hear me make the comment might try to understand the reference; if they’re in my age range, they might think of The Aristocats. Those people would be drawing closer to the meaning behind “an O’Malley cat,” but they wouldn’t be certain in that knowledge. In fact, they would be wrong. An O’Malley cat is a large, gray tabby. My younger brother had such a cat. His cat was named after the O’Malley found in The Aristocats, but his cat bore no similarities to the Disney one except in name and possibly in temperament.

language

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