copywriting archive

English language and the fear of American influence

The English language can be weird, ask any 10 year old.

The trouble is with phonetics. We spent all those long hours at school, fidgeting and passing notes while some teacher tried to explain how two words that sounded exactly the same, were actually spelt completely differently. Ahh, there their.

So how come, many years later, educated adults have such a problem with simple words that are spelt just how they sound? Organized, specialized, mobilization, optimized, prioritize … are all spelt with a Z, not with an S.

There seems to be a dark fear or phobia about using a Z - as though it was some sort of dreadful American spelling.

This mistake has become so common, that replacing it with an S has even made it into the Oxford English Dictionary in recent years as (alternative spelling).

The irony of the situation is that the Americans are using the correct English spelling, whereas we are more frequently using a French alternative.

Zut Alors!

Website copywriting

The beauty of my job is you never know where it’s going to take you.

Today I was on a farm in West Newton, Norfolk, taking photographs and notes to write copy for an online shop.

Click here for further information about Northstar copywriting services

Tweet Seek | Free Twitter search widget

Tweet Seek is a free Twitter search widget that you can embed into your website or blog, giving your visitors live results on any given topic.

It was developed by some friends of mine at Blueclaw, an SEO company based in Leeds, UK.

Tweet Seek is fully customizable, with a range of skins, and you can either choose the results or add a search box so people can explore for themselves.

Go ahead try it, just type in any topic into the search box and get live results as tweets are posted word-wide.

Some pretty fancy javascript dancing is going on here.

You can customize your Twitter search results, reskin and grab the code at the Tweet Seek website.

Choosing a company name

When I came up with the name ‘Northstar’ my thinking was based on the pole star; a guiding light. It also gave me an icon to work with for the logo.

Little did I know that there are thousands of companies called northstar, which has caused confusion. I’ve received phone calls, emails and parcels for print companies, drainage businesses and couriers that bear the same name.

Just out of interest I did a Google search for ‘northstar’ and was pleased to see I came up on the first page from over 9 million results.

Wikipedia came up number one with this definition of the word:

“Northstar is a Canadian mutant with superhuman powers, which he uses for the betterment of society. Originally a member of Alpha Flight, he is later portrayed as a member of the X-Men.”

“Northstar is noted as one of the first openly gay superheroes in American comic books.”

The ‘Good Old Days’ - English sayings and origins

The phrase is often used, but how far back do you have to go, to get to the “good old days?”

It’s just a saying, but here are the origins of a few more sayings and traditions (England circa 1500), that might just make you reconsider:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May. However, a few weeks on and they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then the sons, followed by the women, and finally the children. Last of all came the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it, hence the saying: “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.”

Houses had thatched roofs, which were popular places for animals and insects to nest. When it rained they became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip … so it’s “raining cats and dogs.”

This posed a real problem in the bedroom with insects and droppings fouling the bed. Say hello to the the four poster bed with a sheet hung over the top.

People of limited financial means had mud floors, and were called “dirt poor.” While the wealthy had stone, slate or wooden floors. These would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed on the entrance. Hence the saying the “thresh hold.”

Food was usually cooked in a big kettle or pot that was hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: “Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.”

Meat was expensive, so when visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could “bring home the bacon.” They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and “chew the fat.”

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for a few hundred years or tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or “the upper crust.”

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of “holding a wake.”

So next time someone says it’s not like “the good old days,” just ask them when that was - when we had cholera?

Archives

By subject:

• copywriting
• email marketing
• Internet
• marketing
• movies
• news
• personal
• seo
• web design

By month:

• July 2010
• June 2010
• March 2010
• February 2010
• December 2009
• November 2009
• October 2009
• September 2009
• August 2009
• July 2009
• June 2009
• May 2009
• March 2009
• February 2009
• January 2009
• December 2008
• November 2008
• October 2008