Unnatural Acts

Why do we encounter so many inexpert emails, articles, ads, books and blog posts?

The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves, says psycholinguist Steven Pinker in The Sense of Style.

As Darwin observed, for human beings the act of writing, unlike speaking, is unnatural.

While we master the art of conversation as kids, we wrestle for years—decades—to learn to communicate artfully in writing.

Unlike speaking, writing isn't genetically wired. Good prose, in fact, demands that writers commit "unnatural acts," Pinker says.

Those acts begin in a fairy tale.

To communicate well, the writer must make believe she's conversing with someone.

"The key to good style, far more than obeying any list of commandments, is to have a clear conception of the make-believe world in which you're pretending to communicate," Pinker says.

What should your make-believe world look like?

Pinker describes it eight minutes into his delightful 50-minute talk before the Royal Institution, Linguistics, Style and Writing in the 21st Century. 

Check it out.

True Underdogs

Acclaimed work-life balance expert Berkeley contributed today's post. He is the author of two national bestsellers, The 4-Minute Work Week and Who Moved My Bowl?

While journalists are riveted on news stories of micro-agression by yoga instructors, law professors and standup comics, little coverage has been given to a trend that—by any measure—is vastly more disturbing.

I refer to the ever-growing number of state laws that permit restaurants to open their dining areas to dogs.

While health laws expressly exclude felines from public dining areas (even in cat cafés!), these so-called "Dining with Dogs" laws allow canines to go anywhere they damn well please.

Nothing gets my back up like species-based discrimination.

The new laws, moreover, add insult to injury, when you consider cats receive no compensation for their appearances on YouTube.

Speaking for my kind, we understand victimization by cultural oppressors full well.

Every time big guy doesn't feed me on time, I know it's not merely neglect.

It's micro-agression.

Bye, Bye, Millennials

Marketers now target Millennials by hobbies, not age, according to Hotwire's Communications Trends Report 2016.

No longer youth-obsessed, brands strive to engage customers through "age-agnostic content" that emphasizes the "hobbies we do for fun and the causes that pique our emotional interest."

Marketers should "forget about age," the report says. 

"Let’s focus our marketing on what really motivates our audience—their passions and the life they choose to live."

The PR firm's report is based on data from 400 communicators in 22 countries.

Face Facts

In a controlled experiment, the UK's Behavioural Insights Team studied the effect stock shots of faces had on the responses of 1 million visitors to the website of a charitable organization.

The researchers found the use of stock photos of people's faces significantly reduced conversions.

They concluded that, because marketers over-expose web users to these kind of photos, users simply tune them out—and ignore any content that accompanies them.

"The use of a stock photo discouraged individuals, who saw it as a marketing gimmick," the researchers said.

Swallow Your Pride

Why do we ask someone to eat "humble pie" when he overreaches?

The expression is a corruption of "umble pie," a tasty 13th century dish filled with spiced bits of animals' hearts, livers, kidneys and lungs. "Umble" derives from nomble, French for "deer innards."

The words "umble" and "humble" are in fact unrelated (the latter derives from the Latin word for "lowly"). But by the 19th century, "umble" had been dropped from the language and, because many Brits omit the spoken "h" at the beginning of words, the expression "umble pie" was mistakenly spelled "humble pie."  People assumed the mysterious dish had something to do with humility.

Chew on that.