The phrase ‘your ears must be burning’ tells someone you were talking about them when they were not around. But where did the phrase come from? It appears to goes back to Roman times. In Naturalis Historia, the 37-volume encyclopedia of fact, myth, and speculation, Pliny writes: Those absent are warned by a ringing of…
Even though I’m in the sports & entertainment industry, I worry that using sports jargon in business can get in the way of clear communication. As I’ve written about before, not everyone has a sports background and some of the phrases can be confusing. One of the most overused corporate clichés comes from hockey: “Skate to…
If you adopt the language of an active mindset, you might act more decisively and take more responsibility for your actions. People with a passive mindset tend to shirk responsibility and think that life happens to them. They aren’t in control what happens. This attitude is reflective in their language: “It’s not my fault I…
Ever wonder where the phrase ‘right as rain’ comes from? In English the phrase implies that everything is satisfactory, usually applied to good health. The phrase is often used as a contrast: He was quite ill last week but he’s right as rain now. Like many common English phrases, its origin isn’t clear. It was…
The phrase ‘it is what it is’ has exploded in popularity. I might not have noticed except it’s a phrase my Mom has been using my whole life; I may be overly-sensitized to it. I first noticed a surge in popularity towards the beginning of the US pandemic-related shutdown when it became a popular meme….
Sometimes I’m directionally accurate but not precise. My lack of precision isn’t an attempt to mislead or misinform. After all, my motto is words matter so I usually choose my words carefully. Instead, this imprecision stems from the desire to tell a compelling story or when my memory is cloudy. Here’s a recent real-life example:…
The shelter-in-place / stay-at-home orders have triggered new words and phrases in our collective vocabularies. Some of them existed before but have become more commonly used: coronavirus, pandemic, and virtual happy hour. But others are newly created to describe our COVID-19 mandated world. They are descriptive portmanteaus which aren’t likely to stay in our vocabularies…
On a recent trip to Ireland, a local told me that Ireland had lots of unusually named towns. His favorite was Bastardtown in Wexford County but a close runner up is the difficult-to-pronounce and spell Muckanaghederdauhaulia. Seriously? After I returned home, a close friend reminded me that unusual names for towns wasn’t just an Irish…
As my mantra is “Words Matter,” I’m fascinated by the etymology of words, how different cultures use language, and when people accidentally/purposefully misuse English. I’ve covered spelling bees, written about mondegreens and eggcorns, and advocated for the banishing of overused words. So, it’s probably not surprising that a friend caught my attention when he recently…
During a recent catch-up, a close friend pointed out another person in the restaurant and commented that it was a little early for him to be two sheets to the wind. I was amused – not because 7pm was indeed early for someone to be drunk in a restaurant – but because I had always…