Archive | humor

Insults With Class

Growing up in Virginia, I often heard stories about verbal jousting between Sir Winston Churchill and Lady Astor, who was also born in Virginia. One of the most memorable is the following: Lady Astor: “If you were my husband, I’d give you poison.”Sir Winston: “If you were my wife, I’d drink it.” Amusing, but not…

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How To Write Good

Since my motto is Words Matter, I found myself researching how to write good. OK, that’s intentionally a bit provocative and some background is warranted. A friend used the phrase “Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement” so I obviously wanted to know where it originated. It’s generally attributed to Frank L. Visco from…

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The Butler Did It

If you’re a fan of whodunnit murder mysteries (and even if you aren’t), you’ve likely heard the phrase: the butler did it. It’s shorthand for a seemingly common plot which goes like this: A group of people are invited to a dinner at a wealthy person’s private estate and the wealthy person is killed while…

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The Firewood Fallacy

Whenever an expert makes a claim they cannot support with data, I’m reminded of the firewood fallacy. Firewood fallacy is a term I coined earlier in my career after being frustrated by how many organizations suffer from group think. Decisions are often made based on institutional knowledge or hearsay, rather than independent research or data….

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Fun With Palindromes, Without Aibohphobia

A palindrome is a word, sentence, or number that reads the same backward or forward. It derives from the Greek palindromos (palin is “again, back” and dromos, “running”), suggesting the palindrome “runs back” on itself. Most credit author Henry Peacham for introducing the word palindrome into English in 1638. Palindromes are quite common in English, especially three letter ones: mom,…

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