How One Typo Brought Down the Internet—And What It Means for Your Business
Amazon’s typo broke the internet. A simple mistake cost companies millions of dollars. Here are some tips for preventing typos, no matter your industry.
Editing
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Lorem Ipsum…
This week’s blog posting will explore a topic that has bugged Word People for hundreds of years. What is “Lorem Ipsum” anyway, and why do we use it in page layout? According to lipsum.com (and yes, there is a website devoted to this topic…who knew?): “Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and …
Top 5 Tips to Edit and Write in Chicago or AP Style
As a writer, transitioning between writing styles can be difficult. This includes formats like Chicago style and AP style. For example, I could be asked to write a press release, and then move on to a software documentation project. Most of the grammar and mechanics are the same. However, certain styles have particular punctuation variations. …
What Is a Morpheme?
A “morpheme” is a word or part of a word that has meaning. It includes no smaller part that has a meaning. Examples An example is probably the best way to explain this concept. Let’s start with the lexical item nation and roll out the morphemes from there. So, in the above example, nation, -al, …
What are Kangaroo Words?
Kangaroo words are a fun little word game. A kangaroo word contains joey words, and the search is on for new ones. Here’s a kangaroo word for every letter.
Translation Fails: Branding Disasters Explained
When translation projects go poorly, what follows can rapidly bust a brand. But it’s not just small companies that look on in shock. They watch their translated ad pieces derail, crash, and burn. Even large companies with vast advertising budgets manage to get it all fouled up sometimes. Here are some examples: Sources: WriteReflections.com, i18nguy.com
Understanding the Adjective Order Rule
The unwritten adjective order rule prescribes the order in which adjectives should be listed by attribute category. Everyone seems to use it, but no one knows it.
Words You Shouldn’t Use When Writing
Words are easy to use, and even easier to overuse. Jargon, cliches, and trendy terms can diminish your credibility and make your content read as generic or vague. Filler words pad the word count but don’t add anything of value to your writing. Sometimes, the word itself is just plain wrong. We’ve all been guilty …
What Are the Different Types of Editing?
Every piece of writing needs editing, from marketing materials to training manuals, social media posts, website content, and everything in between. The editing process helps you create the best version of your written content possible.