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…
“Now you’re cooking with gas.” On the surface, it was an odd thing for my friend to exclaim during a recent Memorial Day BBQ as I pulled some filets and corn off of my decidedly wood-fueled Big Green Egg. But I instantly understood the phrase – he was being appreciative of my cooking. The modern…
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…
In the spirit of everything old is new again, I’m blogging the classic ‘give the frog a loan’ story since none of the 20-somethings I recently told it to had heard it before. Give the frog a loan is an example of a shaggy dog story; a longer joke full of seemingly irrelevant details with…
If you’re watching one of the many Peanuts holiday specials, you might wonder why ice sports show up often. Charles Schulz, the creator of the comic strip and animated cartoon “Peanuts,” was born in Minnesota and fell in love with the game of hockey at an early age. His father took him to St. Paul Saints and Minneapolis…
After I watched Top Gun: Maverick, I called a Navy Pilot friend to ask what he thought about the movie. His response: “At the end of the film, there’s no way the F14 could have gotten airborne with such a short run. Without a catapult, it needs about half a mile (2500 feet) to take…
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….
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,…
When I was a marketer, I enjoyed poking fun at my own profession. While marketing is often criticized, my humor was based on pride. There’s even evidence that self-deprecation is linked to wellbeing. With that in mind, here are 10 humorous riddles for marketers. In fact, maybe marketers are the only ones who will truly…
Every company needs a compelling origin story. An origin story reveals how a character became the protagonist (or antagonist), usually providing a compelling event which explains their intentions or behavior. Comics and movies use origin stories to explain how characters got their superpowers or why they are supervillains. Recently, entertainment companies have rewritten the origins…