Last week I talked about the misuse (and overuse) of the word "literally." This week, I continue my series of misused words with the word, "Expert." Expert is another word that has "literally" been overused to the point of being lost in meaninglessness. With so many able to claim expert status on the net, everyone is an expert in something these days. Aren't you? If you've been on Twitter for any length of time, you will notice a huge influx of Marketing Experts and Social Networking Gurus. I'm followed by at least one per day! Hundreds of them per day spam my Twitter and email accounts with things like, "How to get six million followers before lunch!" and "Make money...
I don't drink, but there are two alcoholic beverages that had such funny commercials, I just had to post them. I posted one from Dos Equis The Most Interesting Man in the World. This one is for Bartles and James with a winter idea for a "Cooler Warmer." It has a nice play on words and a fun spirit. Enjoy:
Please leave a comment with your favorite fun commercials and thanks again for your support!
Literally, according to Merriam Webster, the word "literally" literally means: Main Entry: lit·er·al·ly Pronunciation: ?li-t?-r?-l?, ?li-tr?-l?, ?li-t?r-l? Function: adverb Date: 1533 1 : in a literal sense or manner : actually <took the remark literally> <was literally insane> 2 : in effect : virtually <will literally turn the world upside down to combat cruelty or injustice — Norman Cousins> Usage: Since some people take sense 2 to be the opposite of sense 1, it has been frequently criticized as a misuse. Instead, the use is pure hyperbole intended to gain emphasis, but it often appears in contexts where no additional emphasis is necessary. People use the word "literally" when they literally mean it actually, really, literally happened. And it has...
What's in a name? A child by any other name would perhaps...just be silly! When I was pregnant with my first, and we thought she was a boy, my father came up with a name for him that would have necessitated psychological counceling. Are you ready? Horace Morris. Yes, he would have been Horace Morris Tabares. No! We didn't name our son Horace Morris (Dad was kidding), but there are some celebs who have named their children things that sound equally as ridiculous: Jermaine Jackson named his dd Jermajesty. Penn of Penn & Teller named his child Moxie Crimefighter. The one and only Frank Zappa named his children: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva Thin Muffin (My personal favorite.). Forest...
I was cleaning up my draft file a while back and found 109 articles or series of articles that I never finished. This one spoke to me and I thought I'd post it now. You may never know it by listening to political rhetoric, TV commercials or the main-stream media, but words actually mean things. Specific things! If we allow ourselves to get caught up in the current trend to re-define words and to use them as we see fit, we end up saying nothing of value. If we don't realize that today's societal trend is to adopt a Shakespearian attitude in applying meanings to words, we may be fooled into believing something that just isn't so. In the next...
