Siddhartha Mukherjee explains ideas through language “The names of ancient illnesses are condensed stories in their own right. Typhus, a stormy disease, with erratic, vaporous fevers, arose from the Greek tuphon, the father of winds — a word that also gives rise to the modern typhoon. Influenza emerged from the Latin influentia because medieval doctors imagined that the … [Read more...] about The emperor of etymology
Wordplay
‘Spray, delay and walk away’
Try a triad of rhyming words My husband used to leave the room when I turned on “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” Then he’d stand behind his chair in the living room while I watched. Finally he sat down. When I saw him spray, delay and walk away, I knew he was hooked. “Spray, delay and walk away” is a mnemonic Kyan Douglas used to teach men to use aftershave. Instead … [Read more...] about ‘Spray, delay and walk away’
Resurrect a cliché
Rewrite your least favorite buzz phrase A few years ago, my nephew Evan — aka one of the five most adorable boys in the world — was attending Catholic preschool. It was his introduction to Jesus and heaven, and he’d been busy processing how all of this applied to his own life. When his uncle died, he wondered aloud when Jesus was going to finish fixing Uncle Carl and … [Read more...] about Resurrect a cliché
Give great verb | May 2010
“A story should be a verb, not a noun.” — Byron Dobell, former editor of Esquire and American Heritage 'Spank those naughty little oxidants' Creative communications from London London: How can I miss you if you won't let me go? After presenting a writing workshop for TELLABS UK and CCGroup last month, I was treated by a volcano to an extended stay in London. Although … [Read more...] about Give great verb | May 2010
Snip your sentences | January 2010
"(Martin) Amis has loosened his belt, and his slangy, scattershot prose veers toward self-parody. Sentences are either impossibly short or impossibly long. Commas, colons, parentheses and dashes crawl all over the page like flesh-eating microbes." — Jeff Giles, senior editor of Newsweek's Arts & Entertainment section Snip your sentences How long is too long? What's … [Read more...] about Snip your sentences | January 2010