Write On, Wordnik, Grammarsnark, Chaucer, and God

The more time I spend on Facebook, the less I like it. Yes, I know that makes me sound like a joiner - ever since its IPO, the social media behemoth has been losing fans (friends?) at an alarming rate. But after a mere three years, apparently Twitter and I are still in our honeymoon period.

There's something deliciously challenging about Twitter. The wittiest wordsmiths seem to hang out there, and they offer up their fruits in tempting bite-sized morsels, because they have to - which leaves me almost gasping for more.

I wonder if other writers feel the same?

A sampling of the morsels I haven't been able to get enough of, just recently:

Favorite words of The Week, thanks to Wordnik

Grammarsnark's bio alone is worth reading, as are most of its tweets.

Am I smitten with Twitter? You betcha. Where else can you read the tweets of God and Chaucer and learn how to rhyme like Eminem? Plus there's Twitter's inspired use of hashtags. As a journalist nothing gives me a sense of satisfaction quite like seeing so many in one place.

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Winning Words: Mneme all over again

Last week the 2011 UT-San Diego Spelling Bee champion became the 2012 champion by spelling "mneme" and several other words I can neither spell, pronounce, or use correctly in a sentence.

Congratulations, Snigdha Nandipat - and best of luck in DC, where the Scripps National Spelling Bee is slated for May 30-31. 

Speaking of Scripps, the program offers a unique school fundraiser that emphasizes (get this!) academics. 

MagPo Gets the Last Word in 2011

Magpo (Magnetic Poetry, for the uninitiated) is great fun for word geeks and, well, everyone, based on a really poorly designed study of all of the guests at my house.

Magpo is one of those genius ideas that made me mad, in a why didn't I think of that/people really spend money on that? sort of way. It's so much fun to use, though, that I couldn't stay mad for long.

Concrete poem

I bought a set, then another, and... ok, one more, and darn it, I'm glad I did. This is not a paid endorsement; I'm just having fun. Imagining I'm a poet. Communicating with my refrigerator door. Whatever. Magpo makes me happy! Bonus tip: buy three sets - they'll cover so much of the surface area of your frig, you won't need to clean it again. Just the exterior, mind you, but still: whee! Magpo is a hoot!
See what I mean...

True dat.

Some writers are better than others. Some wrangle words in an attempt to seem profound. Some, well, I don't know. (See 'drunk vision, ' above.)

Write on, anyway!

3/8/12 >>> THIS JUST IN >>> 
Four free Magpo apps (great if you need help procrastinating on deadline) from MakeUseOf.com

The Write Way to Respond to Customers

Companies that spend tons of money on ad campaigns designed to get people to buy things seem to understand that words are influential. Sadly, the same companies can fail basic business communication tests.

A recent example: Boeing's response to a letter from a...well, let's say a potential customer. In fact, the correspondence was a crayon drawing of a plane sent to the aerospace company from an 8-year-old whose dad - snicker if you will - is a social media blogger. (A plant? Possibly, but I doubt it.)

If being a writer is a disease, it has an unusually high comorbidity with another affliction, called customerservice-itis. Those of us who suffer from both will attest it's an extremely painful condition.

One of my first episodes occurred in the spring of oh, about 1972. A delicious and well-packaged chocolate bunny in my Easter basket clearly labeled "solid" was in fact quite hollow. My dad said, well, why don't you write a letter to the company? So I did.

The company responded fairly well to my complaint, sending a letter of apology that included a brief explanation about air bubbles in manufacturing equipment (which even to a six-year-old, sounds like an excuse) and a package of hard candy.

I had unreasonably high expectations, I'll admit. I wanted replacement chocolate. And that air-bubble excuse didn't sit well with me. Still, I give the company points for trying.

Obviously, the episode stuck with me, leading me to become 1- hyper-sensitive to customer service slights and 2- a pretty good customer service manager, IMHO.

The real point of the story is this: after nearly four decades and a little brain damage along the way, I still remember the incident, the company (The Franklin Candy Company) and its response. I never bought anything from The Franklin Candy Company and on numerous occasions reminded my parents to avoid their products as well.

Forty years from now, the 8-year-old who wrote to Boeing may be a procurement specialist for DARPA or its lead engineer. Boeing, I suggest you review your customer service communications procedures. And skip any references to air bubbles, just for good measure.

Words I Didn't Know

I love a few "new" words sprinkled in a good book... at least, I love them when I recover from my initial feelings of stupidity.

So here they are, the words I had to look up, from The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society:

fulsome
metier
melange
mien
tractable (I think I learned, and then forgot, that one)
vociferous (ditto this one)

The new (to me) vocabulary words were used perfectly, when each was the absolute right word to use. Writers who do that further communication in general and the art of writing in particular. I am in awe of (and grateful to) Mss. Barrows and Shaffer for producing such a fine book.

Think you can produce writing of a similar ilk? Try - for the month of August, Random House is soliciting entries for its The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Essay Contest. Contestants should describe, in 430 words or less, their favorite book and what it taught them about a particular place and/or time period. Pens at the ready - and good luck!