minds, metaphors and (ethical) manipulation
Archive for January, 2011
Three questions about storytelling
Jan 31st
“Everyone has a good story to tell. It’s up to you to help them to tell it.” In the distant mists of the early Eighties, that was what I was taught as a teenage journalism trainee. But it’s also at the centre of what I do as an “Elephant Whisperer”.
The same idea powers crowdsourcing, Web 2.0, and social media – and it can be a real struggle for traditional marketers, salespeople and “experts” of various kinds who are focussed on telling their own stories.
So I have three questions for you.
- What kind of stories are you telling?
- What kind of stories are you hearing?
- How are you helping others to tell their stories?
Please comment below.
How the Good Friday Agreement got its name
Jan 28th
Here’s a little-known fact: I named the Good Friday Agreement. Or to be more strictly accurate, I was one of the people initially involved in naming it.
I was reminded of this by a friend the other day after I blogged about how new words are born, and when they catch on. If you’re interested, here’s the full story.
I was working as a duty editor at Teletext at the time, and was on duty that Easter weekend. In those days, Teletext was a big deal – we had more than 25 million viewers who relied on us for news, sport, weather, TV listings, travel news, lottery numbers and all kinds of entertainment. And every major newsroom had a TV which was tuned to Teletext at all times, watching for the big, breaking stories. (Note for non-UK readers: Teletext was a sort of prequel to the internet, a service made up of pages of electronic text which you could access on your TV. )
One of our features was a viewers’ telephone poll on a news issue of the day. And on this day there could only be one poll question: “Do you back the Stormont agreement?”
Because that’s what it was called just More >
How new words are born
Jan 25th
Posted by Judy in Clean Language
New words are being created at an astonishing rate at the moment – or so it seems from here.
In the last week, I’ve spotted three interesting ones in my inbox:
- Andrew Cain introduced Fixititis. He says it happens when patients expect the doctor to fix everything for them – and the caring doctor feels overly responsible for things they can’t control
- Jamie Smart introduced another “condition” - Tacticitis. It’s a craving for magical, quick-fix remedies that will solve all our problems & give us what we want NOW!
- And on the plus side, Joe Vitale offers Benestrophe: many good things happening at once; the opposite of a catastrophe.
In each of these new words, the author has made effective use of metaphor: they are comparing one kind of thing to another kind of thing. So in the first two examples, the use of “…itis” compares a common psychological state to a medical condition, and therefore pathologises it.
Another feature of all three new words is that they combine ideas in new ways, in order to create new meanings. Had you previously thought of the possibility that good things might come in waves, even tsunamis?
These are great examples of a process described in Steven Pinker’s brilliant book, The More >
Getting results from really listening
Jan 23rd
When you really listen, what results do you get? You might be pleasantly surprised.
In a recent post I suggested you try a “two-minute listen” with a good friend or family member. Did you try it? If so, what happened?
Students on my online learning programme tried it out recently. At first, some had struggled. But after a little more practice, they were very excited by their results.
- A father had tried a “listening exchange” with his 12-year-old daughter, after her teachers reported that she was having difficulty staying focussed in class. They both enjoyed it so much that it had become a nightly bedtime ritual. Not only had the daughter’s classroom attention improved, but so had the father-daughter relationship. Dad felt he knew his daughter much better – and that she understood him, too.
- One woman learned something new about her husband’s personality, after several years of marriage – and another had learned a lot about the internal workings of aircraft (her husband’s hobby). But both had discovered they loved listening! Quietening their own thoughts and putting their full attention on their husband’s words took each of them to a calm, peaceful, and very pleasant place – so they’re planning to do more of it.
One More >
Preposterous adjectives
Jan 21st
Posted by Judy in Clean Language
Which part of language carries the most judgement? Adjectives, according to Simon Heffer, editor of the Daily Telegraph.
As a Clean Language enthusiast I’ve thought a lot about how to be as non-judgemental as possible in questioning, and as a news reporter and editor I was passionate about sticking to the facts as far as possible. And this was an an interesting reminder of a simple “how to”.
Heffer was speaking at the Great Style Debate this week. He was talking about how he did his own writing – and how he avoided the kind of howlers which would have his newsroom in stitches.
After writing his first draft, he said, he would “stick his head under the tap” and then read it again. At this point, he would take out as many adjectives as possible.
“Adjectives generally are a crutch… nouns do the job with economy, perfectly well. Strip adjectives out if you want to make sure it’s objective,” he said.
Heffer argued that there were two types of adjectives – factual ones like colours and sizes, and judgemental ones. And he deems some of the judgemental adjectives (such as “bubbly”) as completely preposterous – and therefore includes them on the Telegraph’s banned words list.
I agree with More >
