Great rules of writing

From William Safire:

Do not put statements in the negative form.

And don't start sentences with a conjunction.

If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a
great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.

Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.

De-accession euphemisms.

If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.

Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.

Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.

Are you saying what you really mean?

Here are some common phrases that don't mean what we think they mean.

1. I could care less
What you think it means: "I couldn't care less."
What it actually means: You actually do care.

2. It begs the question
Would you think it means: To ask or raise a question
What it actually means: To use an argument that assumes as proved the very thing one is trying to prove.

3. Let's table this
What you think it means: To discuss something later
What it actually means: This is tricky, because in the United States, it means what you think it does. But it means the exact opposite -- "let's discuss this right now" -- in most of the rest of the English-speaking world. Best not to be used in any international setting.

4. I did a 360
What you think it means: Completely changing your opinion.
What it actually means: Your opinion changed, but then changed back to your original opinion.

5. PIN number
What you think it means: A non-repetitive way to refer to your personal identification number
What it actually means: That you're being redundant. Especially when you use your PIN number at the ATM machine.

6. Lion's share
What you think it means: The greatest of multiple shares
What it actually means: You're not technically incorrect, because, over time this has become one of the phrase's definitions. But the phrase originally comes from an Aesop's Fable in which the lion took all -- not the largest -- of the shares. Because that's what lions tend to do.

7. The exception that proves the rule
What you think it means: Any counterexample to a rule proves the rule. For example, if you said you only date blondes, but somebody pointed out the time you dated a brunette, you might say that it is "the exception that proves the rule." This popular usage makes no sense at all.
What it actually means: The idiom actually does make sense -- but you have to think about it along the lines of the exception proves that a rule exists. For example," No parking on Saturdays" would mean that you can park in the spot any other day of the week.

8. I am nauseous.
What you think it means: I have a sick feeling in my stomach.
What it actually means: It depends. Prior to World War II, you'd have been clearly saying, "I make other people sick," and the correct term would have been "I am nauseated." However, over time, the usage has shifted to the point that many language experts have deemed "I am nauseous" as an acceptable explanation of your own queasiness. Just be careful using that term around the old folks' home.


(Thanks, Lainey)

What's in a name?

I often marvel at the names of companies we routinely do business with today -- Amazon, Yahoo!, Google, Monster. Here are more:

Kodak - Kodak is the completely original creation of George Eastman, the founder and inventor behind the company. He believed that the letter K seemed strong, and liked that no one would mispronounce the name.
Lycos - This one comes from the word Lycosidae, the spider family that contains wolf spiders.
Coca-Cola - The world-famous beverage is named for the coca leaves and kola nuts that are used for flavoring. It's actually a lot more appetizing than Pepsi, which was named for the digestive enzyme pepsin.
QVC - Quality, Value, and Convenience.
Starbucks - Starbucks was named for the character Starbuck in Moby Dick. See, even the name is pretentious and overrated.
Mozilla - This popular web browser was originally designed to replace a program called Mosaic. Mozilla is a combination of Mosaic and Godzilla.
Taco Bell - Taco Bell was named for its founder Glen Bell. Because you know it's good Mexican food when it comes from a guy named Glen.

People actually get paid to help companies come up with names. One such professional namer is Mark Gunnion. He describes how he does it:

I retreat to my work lair/library, put on some music – preferably without English lyrics! – and pull out a blank piece ofpaper.  Some of my peers use computers every step of the way, but I like to look at the brief, make some new notes, and then just start making a list on a piece of light-green graph paper, with a purple Flair pen.

I look at every line of the brief, review the criteria and objectives for the name, and then I start writing. I write down whatever ideas come bubbling up from the materials the client has provided.  I make chains of ideas – sounds, metaphors, and words -  just free-form connections between different concepts derived from the client’s briefing and any conversations we’ve had. Before long, the names are just tumbling out of me. I have hundreds of reference books on language (and everything else) that I refer to, books on slang and etymology, Shakespeare, comic books, technical manuals, any kind of word-source where the name ideas might be hiding.  When I’m doing the creative part, I don’t interrupt it with the availability checking, I just let the ideas pour out on to the page, where they can connect, and re-combine, and re-arrange themselves in different configurations. At the end of eight hours, there’s usually a hundred or more names scrawled down, created just for that client, ready to organize and check out.

We accept these creations after awhile, even the odd ones. "Names," Salman Rushdie has written, "once they are in common use, quickly become mere sounds, their etymology being buried, like so many of the earth's marvels, beneath the dust of habit."