July 2008
28 Jul, 2008
Personality is quite an old word being first recorded in English about 1400.
It means the characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s character or the qualities that make someone interesting or popular. Or as Jung would have it:
the supreme realization of the innate idiosyncrasy of a living being.
What gives you your personality? How you relate to people, what you believe in, how you behave, what you say…
People judge your personality by what they see and hear.
Your business is the same. Customers choose you because they like you and can trust you.
How do they judge your business? By what they see and hear.
That is why you need a good image, good branding and good communications. That is why you need Madrigal Communications.
28 Jul, 2008
The pilgrims have packed up and the pope has gone home. The World Youth Day celebrations have finished and Sydney returns to normal.
I followed it all through the media, shared the noise from the late night partying of German Pilgrims billeted next door and visited the city while some of the events were on. You would be a great cynic indeed not to see the joy in the event.
My cynicism was finally driven away by listening to the Pope’s thought-provoking homilies. His speeches to the crowds were quite inspiring. But what is a homily? It is a word that conjures up ambiguous responses because of its two very opposite meanings:
-
a talk on a religious subject, intended to be spiritually uplifting rather than giving doctrinal instruction; and
-
a tedious moralizing talk.
It is possible to see that although the meanings may be quite polarised there is a very fine line between the two in practical terms. But Benedict XVI’s homilies were uplifting and far from tedious. His language was simple and very powerful. His description of the meaning of life, for instance:
It is a search for the true, the good and the beautiful. It is to this end that we make our choices; it is for this that we exercise our freedom; it is in this – in truth, in goodness, and in beauty – that we find happiness and joy. Do not be fooled by those who see you as just another consumer in a market of undifferentiated possibilities, where choice itself becomes the good, novelty usurps beauty, and subjective experience displaces truth.
This is communication that we all should aspire to.
14 Jul, 2008
I remember the first heard time I heard fora. It was at a conference of senior public servants a decade ago. I laughed, at first thinking the speaker was being humorous but he was far to earnest.
What does it mean? It is a word that replaces, what normal people, and indeed, any editor or writer, would use:Â forums.
It is slightly comic and also a bit tragic to hear it used. It is an indicator that the user is trying to show you that he/she is very erudite indeed – but really tells you that they are trying too hard. Such users are mostly associate professors of social engineering or civil servants. Unfortunately it is part of our new (Australian) Prime Ministers’ vocabulary.
Forum was a Latin word meaning similar to ‘what is out of doors’. It has been naturalised into English for the last 500 years and no longer counts as a foreign word. Its English plural is forums despite what many other (more tolerant?) websites would have us believe.
To use fora instead of forums is presumptious, pompous and downright wrong. If we are foolish enough to follow the lead of the didactics we would be growing nasturtia (nasturtiums), viewing our photograph alba (albums) and visiting musea (museums); all this on the way to the asyla (asylums).
Don’t be fooled by professors or politicians you should take your word advice from professionals.
8 Jul, 2008
I have just finished reading a wonderful book on language called WORDS: the evolution of western languages (Edited by Victor Stevenson, Van Nostrand Rheinhold Company Inc.). It looks at how the early Indo-European language created most of the modern languages now used in Europe, Turkey, Iran and all the way to India.
Basque is an exception and is considered one of Europe’s oldest languages. The author suggests it survives from the stone age; and was probably spoken when the earliest Europeans were cave painting.
English has only taken one word from Basque and that is jingo. Used in the expression by jingo (as a euphemism for by God) and the word jingoism for a chauvinistic patriot.
The Basques converted to Christianity in about 600AD. But the great irony is that jingo is derived from Jinkoa one of their ancient gods.
So by jingo make sure you use modern language in your business material.
1 Jul, 2008
Acumen is a word that should be familiar to you. It means sharpness of mind, the ability to make accurate and intelligent judgments. It is most often heard when describing entrepreneurs; in that they are said to have business acumen.
It is a word that has been around since the early sixteenth century when it was borrowed from the Latin word acuere to sharpen (it is closely related to acute); hence the sharpness of mind.
It might sound a bit of a pompous word for being good at something but it has some advantages over its synonyms. For instance, perspicaciousness (having characteristics of keen mental perception and understanding) has the disadvantages of complicated spelling and pronunciation.
But if you are perspicacious you will recognise the importance of sound communications in your enterprise. If you have acumen you will choose professionals to design and plan your marketing and communications.
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