Communication Exchange

Communicating at Christmas

2009-12-24T10:34:00.007-06:00

Let me take a moment to communicate to all my readers my very warmest of Christmas wishes for you all. I will be doing a bit less communicating on this blog for a while, but will return to posting after the New Year.

In the mean time, let me have my favorite little pooch Coquette send you holiday greetings from our entire family.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

If This Is Your Mistake, You're In Good Company

2009-12-23T09:38:00.007-06:00

I'm hoping this is the last of my "words that are commonly misused" posts. After covering chose/choose and lose/loose and there/they're/their, I'm now setting my sights on the frequently mistaken your/you're.

Your is a possessive pronoun. You're is a contraction of the words you and are. You can't really hear a difference between the two words in speech. However, in writing, many people have trouble determining which one to use in a given sentence. It's really simple. If you can substitute the words you are, then use the contraction you're. If you are talking about something you own or possess, use your--such as your slippers, your smile, or your annoying habit of stealing my pancakes.

Hope this helps you keep your writing clear and that you're always grammatically correct!

How do you remember your and you're?

(graphic at www.halifaxcourier.co.uk)

There Is Why They're Confused By Their Problem

2009-12-21T09:52:00.009-06:00

Here's a spelling/grammar/language usage problem that is very common. I've even seen it in some otherwise extremely well written blogs. I'm talking about the problem of confusing the words there, they're and their.

There is an adverb and means "at or in that place." They're is a contraction of the words they are. Their is a plural possessive adjective. Obviously, speakers don't confuse these words as they are all pronounced the same. Writers, however, often seem unable to differentiate between the three--and as there, they're and their are quite common words, we see them misused in written works with great frequency.

How can you be sure you're using the correct one? Probably the simplest way is to ask yourself if you're talking about something that belongs to the they in question--such as, their children, their behavior, their failure to learn correct English. If they own or possess something, then the likelihood is very strong that you will use their. If you can replace the word in question with the words they are, then you want the contraction they're. Just about anything else, choose there. Not always--but often.

How do you tell the difference between their, they're and there?

(graphic from www.squidoo.com)

Book Cover Design as Communication

2009-12-19T09:09:00.011-06:00

Recently I downloaded a trial version of a software program called BookCoverPro. I'm trying to decide whether or not to purchase this program. I would use it to design the covers of the books that my writing buddy Diane and I intend to publish with our upstart company Cozy Cat Press.

I've read good things about BookCoverPro and so far I'm finding it fairly easy to use. I wish I could show you what I'm accomplishing but the restrictions on the trial offer prohibit my ability to import any of my creations to my blog--which I understand.

BookCoverPro lets me use both photographs and graphics. It has a wide variety of special effects I can add. I especially like how easy it is to arrange and edit the various elements on the page--very instinctive. I've tried before to make book covers with PaintShopPro, and BookCoverPro is definitely proving to be much easier. Some people might suggest that I try a more general design program such as Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw, but I've found that programs such as these are too hard for this non-artist. BookCoverPro truly does seem to be geared to the artistically challenged--and that's me.

I'm not certain if BookCoverPro will provide me with the variety that I would like to have to be able to create the number of covers I eventually want to do (i.e., covers for my two books and a cover for Diane's one book--so far. We both have more ideas percolating--and we may want to acquire some more authors of cozy mysteries too). My goal is to produce covers that relate specifically to each book's content but I'm afraid that goal may just not be possible using a simplified and standardized software program such as BookCoverPro.

Obviously, the best way to create a book cover is to hire a designer, but with three books in our pipeline--that approach is simply too expensive for us. BookCoverPro may be the best solution. I'm still trying to decide.

Do any of my readers have any thoughts on BookCoverPro?

The End of Friendship

2009-12-17T14:04:00.006-06:00

You'd think in the era of Facebook where everyone has hundreds, if not thousands, of friends, that I would not be discussing the end of friendship. But that is just what is happening, according to William Deresiewicz argues in an article entitled "Faux Friendship" in the most recent issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education. He suggests that because of Facebook and similar sites, people are now more interested in the number of "friends" they can claim, rather than the quality of the friendships that they have with their friends.

In ancient times, argues Deresiewicz, friendship was valued more than it is today because it was rare and difficult to achieve. He says that the classical ideal of friendship, "the image of the one true friend, a soul mate rare to find but dearly beloved, has completely disappeared from our culture." Today, he claims, we no longer share our feelings with just one special friend, we broadcast our feelings to a group so large that it could be better described as an audience than a group of friends.

Do we have a real friend amongst all our Facebook friends and Twitter followers? Or does the word "friend" mean something altogether different today than it did yesterday?

(graphic from www.world-net.net)

It's the Season--for Studying

2009-12-15T09:48:00.009-06:00

It's the season for many things right now--holiday decorating, traveling to see family, and lots of homemade goodies. It's also the season for final exams and submitting final papers for scores of college students around the country. I know this because I used to give many of those exams and grade many of those papers. Right when they want to be thinking about the holidays, college students have to focus on studying for exams and writing long research papers. I always felt for my students during the fall semester because I know it's stressful to balance all these various activities at this time of year.

If you're a parent of a college student, please be patient with them right now. Their lives are probably in upheaval as they hurry to finish the semester successfully and get ready to return home for the Christmas break. I always felt that the end of the fall semester was more intense than the end of the spring semester because of the pressure of holidays. Eventually, however, exams will be over, papers will be submitted, and college students will be free to concentrate on returning to their families. College teachers will be around a bit longer as they grade those exams and correct those papers, but eventually they too will turn in their final grades and the fall semester of 2009 will be history. Hurray!

Do you have children in college who will be coming home for the holidays?

(photos from www.k12genie.com/study-habits/ and www.principalspage.com)

Choose or Chose: It's Your Choice

2009-12-13T09:41:00.007-06:00

In my most recent post about the difficulty we have discriminating between the words lose and loose, several commenters mentioned another similar bothersome pair--choose and chose. I can see why people would have trouble with these words. Both are verbs. Both have identical pronunciation of their "s" sounds. The only difference is in the spelling--one "o" or two, and pronunciation.

I'm trying to think of a clever gimmick to help people remember that chose with one "o" is past tense and choose with two "o"s is present tense. You can think of chose as having the same vowel sound as the "o" in "ago" as in "long, long ago." You can think of choose as having the same vowel sound as the "oo" in "soon" as in "right now." Maybe this will help.

How do you remember the difference between chose and choose?

(graphic from http://ecards.myfuncards.com)

Stay "Loose" and Don't "Lose" It

2009-12-11T09:47:00.006-06:00

Here's a common spelling problem that I frequently encountered back when I was teaching and grading papers. Students often could not determine when to use the word "loose" and when to use the word "lose." It's a problem that typically doesn't occur in speech (because the words are pronounced differently), but does occur a lot in writing because of the similarity in the spelling of the two words.

"Loose" is an adjective and means "not fastened" and "lose" is a verb and means "to mislay." These words are quite different in meaning but just one little "o" separates them in spelling, so mistakes happen frequently. I always suggested to my students to say the word out loud when writing it. Often, hearing the word will help the writer select the correct spelling.

Of the two words, "loose" is probably the easiest to understand, because its spelling is the most congruent. That is, there are many other English words with similar spelling. For example, goose, moose, and noose. These words all end in "oose" and the pronunciation of this ending is consistent.

However, with "lose" we see how truly strange the English language is. The word "lose" actually rhymes with or is pronounced like words that are spelled quite differently from "lose," such as booze, dues, moos, news, twos, views, and woos. The only word I can think of that rhymes with (is pronounced like) and is also spelled like "lose" is "whose." No wonder writers are confused by this strange little word.

As you can see, the big difference between "loose" and "lose" is not the fact that one word has one "o" and the other has two. The big difference is in the pronunciation of the "s" in each. In "loose" the "s" is pronounced as a soft "s" as in--well--"soft." In "lose" the "s" is pronounced as a "z." So, truly, it's not so much a spelling difference that separates "loose" from "lose." It's the pronunciation difference--"s" versus "z." Just remember that and you can stay loose and not lose it.

Do you have trouble with "loose" and "lose"?

(graphic from http://www.art.com/products/p15241192-sa-i3622108/christopher-rice-grasping-grammar-lose-loose.htm)

Bookshare is Great Volunteer Opportunity

2009-12-09T09:57:00.002-06:00

Ever since my local chapter of RFB & D (Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic) closed last year, I have been looking for a similar volunteer activity where I could use my communication and education background in a meaningful way. Today I received an e-mail from the former director of the local RFB & D, Nina Leone, who is now affiliated with a new online volunteer organization called Bookshare. Nina asked former RFB & D volunteers to join Bookshare and to encourage others to do the same.

At Nina's request, I have checked out Bookshare and I believe I will join. Let me tell you about it and maybe you would consider joining. As Nina tells me, "Bookshare is the leading provider in the nation of educational electronic books specifically designed for the blind, visually impaired, and dyslexic individuals with print disabilities." She goes on to describe how Bookshare works and their need for volunteers. The main difference, she notes, between Bookshare and RFB & D is that Bookshare volunteers work totally from home, whereas RFB & D volunteers work at the RFB & D center. In truth, I prefer the Bookshare format, as our local RFB & D center was quite far from my home.

Bookshare volunteers need only an Internet connection, good computer skills (web browsing and basic word processing), and a passion for books. That certainly describes me. I'm guessing it describes many of you too. So, if you're looking for a way to make a difference this year, check out Bookshare.

What do you say?

What "The Blind Side" Tells Us About Communication

2009-12-07T10:03:00.007-06:00

The new Sandra Bullock movie The Blind Side which was released around Thanksgiving and which has been ranking around Number Two in Box Office receipts since it began showing, moved to Number One this weekend according to the news report I heard this morning. I welcome this report, as I saw this wonderful movie when it first came out and I believe it has much to teach all of us. However, as this is a blog devoted to communication, let me focus on what the movie says about that.

If you didn't already know, the movie tells the true story of professional football player Michael Oher and his rise from poverty, thanks in part to the efforts of a well-to-do woman named Leigh Anne Tuohey and her husband Sean who took the young man into their family and raised him as their own child, providing him with an education that he would not have had otherwise. The movie documents the many trials and tribulations of their struggle and culminates with Oher's successful selection by the Baltimore Raven's professional football team.

Admittedly, I know nothing about football, so there were many sections of this movie in which I was totally in the dark. Even so, I loved how the story showed that people from dramatically different backgrounds---black or white, young or old, rich or poor--can get along, can communicate if they persevere and are motivated. Just knowing that this story is true--not some fluff from the fertile minds of Hollywood, makes it that more appealing.

Leigh Anne Tuohey, as played by Bullock, refuses to stereotype people; she accepts and interacts with each person she meets as an individual. That is the basic rule of improving communication between people from different backgrounds. Never assume that a person is only comprised of the characteristics of the particular group to which they belong. Always treat each person as unique and let your communication with them reflect this. This is how negative stereotypes are broken. This is what Tuohey does with Michael and with everyone she meets.

Bravo to The Blind Side! I hope you all get to see this wonderful movie.

(photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blind_Side_(film)

More Than Sticks and Stones Can Hurt

2009-12-05T09:29:00.005-06:00

We would all wish that communication would be universally positive, but we know that that isn't the case. Communication can hurt. Words can hurt. Unfortunately, many children learn this in the most personal way when they are bullied. Researchers report that of all the types of bullying that children experience, verbal bullying is the most prevalent type and that the most typical age to be bullied is during junior high school.

Even though verbal bullying may leave no physical marks on a child, the emotional scars can remain a lifetime. Many researchers have investigated the horrible phenomenon of bullying but, unfortunately, increased knowledge has not led to a decline in the incidence of bullying. Indeed, new types of bullying, such as cyber-bullying, have now taken the spotlight because when bullies use the anonymity of the Internet, their cruel intentions can be carried out without repercussion to themselves and often with devastating results for the victim.

As a communication teacher and researcher, I believe everyone who communicates (that would be all of us) bears responsibility for the horror of bullying. We cannot view it as a harmless childish prank that children should just be able to shrug off--something that they can easily forget as they go on with their lives. Bullying cuts to the very core of a child's self-worth and personal identity. Just because bullying is common is no excuse for anyone to ignore it.

I investigated some of the online sources specifically designed for children who are victims of bullying and I was not impressed. Many of these sites are advertisements for anti-bullying programs that parents can purchase. This is all well and good, but I'm concerned about children who are bullying victims and who may be searching the Internet looking for some immediate help. One source that seemed particularly kid-friendly was PBS Kids' "It's My Life" series. The advice was apt and the style was quite readable for elementary-aged children as well as junior-high schoolers.

What do you think we as a society can and should do to help alleviate the problem of verbal bullying?

(photo from http://heroworkshop.wordpress.com/2008/04/28/the-role-of-heroes-in-bullying/)

Exchanging and Swapping Books

2009-12-03T10:38:00.012-06:00

I love to exchange ideas about communication--you may have guessed that from the title of this blog. Another thing I love to exchange are books. I'm not really a saver of books (my husband Milt is, however; he has an extensive library of thousands of volumes). Once I read a book, I'm ready to dispense with it and go on to a new one. I am loathe, however, to ever throw a book away. I figure, someone somewhere might want to read it.

A while back, I joined a site called Book Crossing where members leave books they have read in public places to be picked up (hopefully) by other Book Crossing members. Members record their deposits and findings and thus are able to track individual books around the world on their travels. It's a super site and a great idea and I have left quite a few books in public locations in my town. The problem is, I have yet to find a book left by another member. It may have something to do with the fact that I'm not much of a traveler.

Recently, I joined a site called Paperback Swap. This site is more appropriate for my needs. When you have a book you wish to swap, you list it online and if a member requests the book, you mail it to them. Once you have mailed a certain number of books, you are able to begin requesting books to be sent to you. Paperback Swap has a huge inventory of books. I perused their catalogue and found some wonderful novels I hadn't read and requested them. I have mailed out about the same number of books that I have received. The expense is minimal--just the cost of shipping, which is much cheaper than what it would cost to buy these books in book stores or even online. I recommend it.

Are you a book lover? How do you get your books?

Top Droppers and Survey Results

2009-12-01T09:50:00.027-06:00

Many thanks to my friends from Entrecard who visited Communication Exchange during the month of November. The ones who were here the most often have the distinction of receiving Top Dropper honors because they left me their Entrecard calling card when they "dropped" by. Thanks to all!

1. Fledgling Blogger

2. Moms...check nyo

3. EZGreatLife

4. Picture to People

5. Mommy's Little Corner

6. Ju st My Two Cents

7. Yummy-as-can-be

8. The Way I See It

9. A Simple Life

10. A Beaded Tail

Also, I want to report the results of the survey that I have been running the last week in which I asked my readers to indicate the blog post factor that most encouraged them to leave a comment. Of the 21 readers who responded, by far the most popular answer was "the post is on an interesting topic" with 16 of the 21 responses. The other delineated responses got either "0" responses or "1" response each with "other" acquiring "3" responses. It seems pretty obvious to me, that for most blog readers--it's content that determines whether or not they comment.

Ethics and eReaders

2009-11-29T09:59:00.010-06:00

At the top of my Christmas list this year is an electronic reader or eReader. There's the Kindle from Amazo n.com, the Sony eReader, and now the Nook from Barnes and Noble. I've been reading and studying the benefits and drawbacks of all of these devices before I settle on one or the other. At the moment, issues such as price and compatibility of device with download format are concerns.

I hadn't really thought too much about the ethics of electronic readers until the other day when I heard best-selling novelist John Grisham interviewed on the Today Show by Matt Lauer. Although the focus of the interview was Grisham's new anthology, he spent quite a bit of time bemoaning the entire concept of the eBook and the eReader. In Grisham's view, such devices are unethical as they rob authors, publishers, and printers from profits that are rightly theirs when readers acquire books in electronic format and fail to purchase bound books in stores.

Now that I contemplate the phenomenon of electronic book downloading, I realize there is a comparison to be made with the downloading of other creative works such as music, videos, and movies. Certainly, I remember the huge flap that occurred over Napster and its distribution of copyright-protected music through free downloads a few years ago. Creative artists (including authors such as Grisham) absolutely have a valid point and I understand their frustration when their hard work is distributed for free and they are unable to profit from their efforts.

On the other hand, it's virtually impossible to legislate away technological change. I'm sure blacksmiths were irate when the automobile took away much of their business and people probably felt sorry for them. Did that mean, that Henry Ford should never have manufactured cars? Times change. How information is distributed changes. In fact, how information is distributed is probably changing faster than almost any other element in society right now. That means music, videos, movies---and now, books. The eReader is here to stay. Authors and publishers will have to adapt.

I believe that the downloading of books onto electronic readers is a situation that demonstrates how technology has forced a change in our ethics. What do you think?

(photos from www.barnesandnoble.com and www.furman.edu/pressarchive_printer.cfm?id=1356 and http://onward-solutions.com)

Communicating on Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T09:37:00.013-06:00

Did you do a lot of communicating yesterday? If you were like me, you probably went to a family gathering and got to talk to people you don't talk to all that often. In my case, we all met at my sister Chris's house. She is the perfect hostess and multi-tasker. If you ever need any event planned and need it to occur on time--flawlessly--contact my sister! Can this gal communicate!

There to help her, was the other great cook in the family. No, as you may well know, not me--but my culinary brother Ken. He brought several fantastic side dishes to add to Chris's already immaculate table. Here he is in the photograph whipping up his famous turkey gravy. Ken communicates beautifully with his mastery of all things edible. I'm still nibbling on his wonderful bacon scones!

Another family member I was delighted to see was my amazing son Alex. Alex arrived AFTER he ran a local race at 8:00 in the morning along with Chris's oldest son Nick and his wife Kristin. Obviously the three of them did not need to feel guilty about eating a huge turkey meal. As you can see from this photograph I took of Alex yesterday and an old one I have of him from several years ago, Alex is a major inspiration to me. He has transformed his life--losing a huge amount of weight through diet and exercise (in his case, marathon running). He was giving all of us dieters in the group yesterday, some much needed motivation communication. Thanks, Alex!

Probably, the most enjoyable conversation I had yesterday, was a private interaction with Brennan, the four-month-old son of Nick and Kristin. If you think it's not possible to communicate with an infant this young, you would be wrong. Of course, our communication was nonverbal, but it occurred. Brennan's eyes are wide open and observing everything; he responds to my face and my voice. I experimented with different facial expressions and voices to see what sort of reaction I might get. That's Brennan with his mom in the photograph.

Meltzoff and Moore conducted some interesting studies on infant communication with children much younger than Brennan. Nick and Kris (and you, if you are a parent of an infant--or a grandparent) might like to test out their hypotheses. They had adults present three different facial expressions to infants (some as young as 12 days old): tongue protrusion, mouth opening, and lip protrusion. They found that the infants produced the facial expressions that the adults displayed. In a variation of this basic experiment, they then had a new adult (one the infant didn't know) present a totally new facial expression to the infant (they recommend a tongue protrusion to the side--like sticking out your tongue and touching your cheek) and then having the new adult return the next day with a neutral face. They found that in most cases, the infant would produce the new facial expression for the new adult. It was almost as if the infant associated the new expression with the new adult--like "you're the "stick out your tongue and touch your cheek guy." Although Meltzoff and Moore didn't investigate infants' imitation of sound, I encourage new parents to incorporate sound and sound effects into their repertoire of tricks in communicating with babies. This probably stems from my own vocalics research. We know that babies' hearing is as good--if not better--than their sight, and babies are great at making sounds--particularly the raspberry!

All in all, I had a wonderful Thanksgiving and managed some great communication. How about you?

Number of Comments--Please Answer This Poll

2009-11-25T09:48:00.005-06:00

Before we leave the topic of what factor about a blog post most encourages readers to post comments, let's open the floor to your input. From my little mini-content analysis of twenty of my most recent posts that I described in my last post, I determined that post length had no significant effect on the number of comments received. Several readers suggested alternative reasons why one blog post might receive more comments than another.

I've incorporated their ideas into this little poll that you will find on my right sidebar. Please participate in the poll and I'll report your answers next week. Thanks!

(graphic from www.jillstanek.com)

Christmas Card Communication

2009-11-23T09:56:00.007-06:00

Christmas cards bedecked our living room when I was a child. They arrived in the mail by the dozens, starting soon after Thanksgiving and my mother immediately hung them from the mantel or around doorways. These multi-colored greetings were a major part of holiday decoration at our house. Some showcased funny cartoon Santas; others had beautifully painted religious scenes. Some enclosed a simple signature and others held lengthy messages from a faraway friend. Some even included typed pages of a family's yearly exploits. There were literally hundreds of them all over the house and my amazing mother kept track of every one and saw to it that all were recorded and reciprocated.

As a Communication researcher, I view the sending and receiving of Christmas cards as a form of communication. Not considering the religious significance of Christmas cards, from a communication standpoint alone, the exchange of these little messages of love is a wonderful tradition that seems to be waning. Possibly this is because of our hectic lifestyle or more efficient technology which allows instant communication, but whatever the reason, fewer and fewer of us seem to send Christmas cards.

How about you? Do you send Christmas cards? If so, do you write messages in them or include a typed insert about your experiences? Do you receive many Christmas cards? Do you think the practice of sending of Christmas cards is declining?

(photo from www.global-b2b.network.com)

Let's Test This Hypothesis: Longer Posts Relate to Fewer Comments

2009-11-21T09:09:00.010-06:00

In my last post, I indicated that I tend to believe that longer blog posts will receive fewer comments. If I were still working as an Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, conducting research on various communication-related topics, I might very well have decided to test this hypothesis for one of my studies. Actually, it would be relatively easy to do.

When one variable (in this case, the number of comments) changes in a particular way when another variable (in this case, the length of the blog post) changes, we call this a correlation. Determining the correlation between two variables is accomplished with a simple statistical test. If the correlation is perfect (that is, 100%), it would mean that as the length of the blog post increased, we would see a comparable decrease in the number of comments. (Actually, our example is an inverse or indirect correlation because we are suggesting that as one variable increases the other decreases). Hardly ever do things change so precisely in real life, so in most cases, the correlation will be much less than 1.0 or perfect. The less the actual correlation statistic (it can be anything from 1.00 to -1.00) is, the less likely that there is a relationship between the variables --in our case, length and number of comments.

So, let's try it. Here's how I'm going about it. First, I need a random sample. The best random sample would be to take several examples of blogs from a number of sources and tabulate their lengths and the number of comments for each. For this little pretend project, I'm just going to take a few examples from this blog and tabulate the lengths and the number of comments and see what the correlation is. Yes, I understand that my sample is not truly random, but this is a demonstration, so bear with me.

I selected the most recent 20 posts from Communication Exchange. I counted the number of words in each post and the comparable number of comments for each. Here are the results:

Words in Post/Number of Comments

20/ 7

537/0

273 / 7

531 / 1

317 / 2

344 / 1

325 / 3

317 / 4

186 / 3

27 / 0

203/ 3

321 / 1

264 / 3

443 / 4

146 / 5

257 / 1

366 / 2

391 / 2

485 / 1

159 / 2

Now I merely submit these data to one of the many online statistical testing sites (my favorite is Stat Pages). I quickly discover that there is NO significant correlation (the correlation is -.39, the significance level being only .08). So, what does that mean? From our little test, it appears that post length and number of comments are NOT meaningfully correlated. So, fear not, long-winded bloggers--you have just as much chance at getting comments as anyone else! What do you say to that?

(graphics from iannoon.wordpress.com)

Post Length and Comments

2009-11-19T10:39:00.026-06:00

Joel at Stuff and Nonsense believes that longer blog posts prompt fewer comments. I agree with him. How about you?

(graphic at www.michelemartin.typepad.com)

Alliteration Aim in Headline Handiwork

2009-11-17T10:30:00.005-06:00

All the blogs I visit regularly that purport to help you improve your blog, invariably discuss the importance of making sure you have "keywords" in your titles (or headlines). These "keywords" as best as I can determine come from a list of terms kept by the Googlemeister in its vault in the bank of Google and if you can happen on the "correct" keywords--and place them auspiciously in your daily post's title (or headline), your traffic will jump from the puny several dozen faithful readers a day you (I) now have to hundreds, even thousands! Hurray!

Woe is me! My interest in writing titles (or headlines) is far more personal and stems back to my days in high school journalism class. There, Mrs. Borsheim gave me the exalted task of creating the headlines for the stories that appeared in the school newspaper (it may also have had something to do with the fact that I knew nothing about sports and most of the stories in the school newspaper were about the football team). Anyway, I loved--LOVED--writing headlines. I truly believed (and Mrs. B never dissuaded me from this belief) that the perfect headline was full of alliteration--that is, all the words (or most all the words) in the headline began with the same letter (or sound at least). It was like a puzzle to me--creating the perfect synopsis of the article in just a few words--all of which started alike. And--the longer I could make the headline--all alliterative--the better! I kept trying to outdo myself. ("Farmers Feud While Ranch Workers Worry" was one I remember for the school's production of Oklahoma).

You still see some jazzy headlines with alliteration, but, of course, good headlines exhibit other traits beside similar starting sounds (notice the alliteration in the last three letters--neat, eh?). Good headlines draw the reader into the story and make them want to read it. Good headlines provide a brief summary of the story. Good headlines exhibit good writing--including alliteration.

In looking around the Internet for information on alliteration and headline writing, I encountered several sites that suggested using headline writing with alliteration as a learning exercise for student writers. When you think about it, it's a great idea. If the student writer can synopsize an entire poem or story in a brief headline and be creative enough to chose alliterative words in doing so, there's a good writing exercise. One such exercise, suggested that students create headlines for famous stories--fairy tales, Bible stories, or historical examples. Here are some I found at www.teachingideas.co.uk. See if you can guess what they are:

Bears' brekkie blagged by blonde

"Giant not so jolly" jokes Jack

Pining Prince seeks sweetheart to fit footwear

"Eat an apple" suggests sneaky snake

Man makes massive maritime menagerie

Sleepy seamstress sends city into century long snooze

Boastful biscuit beaten by fast-thinking fox

Serious student snapper bitten by bug--secretly catches criminals.

I've figured out all of the above except the last two. Can you? Also, why don't you write your own alliterative headline for a famous story? Leave it in the comments section and see if the readers can figure it out.

(photo from maikopunk.wordpress.com)

Communicators: Use Modern Tools to Find Love

2009-11-15T10:03:00.008-06:00

I have a husband, so I'm not in the market for a new one. However, if I were, I wouldn't hesitate to use one of the online computer dating services such as eHarmony.com. In our parents' day, couples were often introduced by relatives or friends--or even matchmakers. Today, we're on our own--and for some people who lack social skills or who spend an inordinate amount of time in solitary (read "online") pursuits, there are great difficulties in meeting a mate.

In my travels to various blogs, I hear so many tales of romantic woe. Why can't I find a girl friend? Where are all the good men? I'm all alone and miserable! Wake up, people. This is the age of the Internet and love and companionship are at your fingertips--you just need to use them to type in your requirements for your perfect match.

Yes, I know, there is a stigma attached to finding a mate online. So what? Isn't it better than having no one in your life? Yes, I know, it might be dangerous. But, regular dating can be too--so just be careful. Yes, I know, you might actually find your soul mate, fall in love, and then break up. Well, that happens with relationships that form the regular way too. And--as some wise person said once--it's better to have loved an Internet-selected sweetheart than never to have loved at all.

Savvy communicators know that it's the quality of the communication that counts--not where you find the communicator.

What do you think about online dating? If you were (are) single would you use it?

(graphic by www.timtim.com)

The Lost Art of Memorization

2009-11-13T10:02:00.012-06:00

During my many years of teaching public speaking, I drilled it into my student speakers' heads that they should extemporize their presentations--never read them, and particularly NEVER memorize them. Nothing is more deadly, I told them, than a memorized speech (although, Roman orator Quintillian would disagree). As the years went by, I found it less and less necessary to argue against memorizing speeches--and it began to dawn on me why. Students don't bother to memorize anything anymore.

When I was a child, memorization was a critical part of the educational process. In elementary school, I memorized songs, poems, and other ditties. In Sunday School, I memorized Bible verses and eventually in junior high school, I memorized entire religious tracts in preparation for confirmation. In high school and beyond, I was involved in theatre and memorized lines and monologues for many plays. To me, memorization was just part of education--a skill that made possible many of the goals I had. With each passing year, my memorization skills improved as I honed my own personal memorizing techniques. To this day, I can still recall songs, lines from plays, and poems that I memorized many years ago (if you're interested, I have the entire first act of Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutti memorized--all parts).

What value is there, you might ask, in being able to memorize large segments of long-forgotten trivia or literary opuses? None. The value is not what you memorize--the value is in the skill of memorization itself. In learning how to recall all that verbiage that I did as a child, I made it much easier for myself in high school to recall facts for history exams, or the periodic table for chemistry class, or formulas for math class. I would venture to say that my memorization skills were top-notch for many years (they are probably slipping now because I don't use them so much any more).

Students today, unfortunately, are not forced to memorize. I don't know whose fault this is--maybe teachers who find teaching memorization too boring, maybe parents who don't see its value, or maybe students who have complained sufficiently about having to memorize that memorization activities have been all but removed from school curricula. But when this happens, students are the losers. Today, students rely on technology to retain information for them--their cell phones, iPods, Blackberrys, and so forth--not their brains. When called upon to remember important information for an exam without the help of this technology, many are overwhelmed.

I would like to see the art of memorization brought back into schools--at least at the elementary level. There are many ways that inventive grade school teachers could incorporate memory activities into their lesson plans that could be fun, educational, and skill-building all at the same time. It would be nice to see college students that weren't overwhelmed by the idea that they actually have to remember information for a test.

How is your memory? Did you have to memorize a lot of songs or poems when you were a child? Do those of you with young children find that they have to memorize anything for their school assignments?

(photo from http://www.theaccidentalcommunicator.com/tag/memorize)

Fort Hood Coverage Mistake Not Just Spelling Error

2009-11-11T10:00:00.010-06:00

Yesterday as I was following the national coverage of the memorial service at Fort Hood, I was aghast to hear a reporter (obviously reading from a prepared script) describe the events that would take place during the service. He noted that a "burglar" would play "Taps." I wondered if the mistake was a spelling error on the part of the script writer or perhaps a pronunciation error on the part of the reporter. Either way, I concluded that at the national level, journalists should know the difference between "burglar" and "bugler" both in spelling and pronunciation and the mistake should not have occurred.

Usually when I hear these kinds of errors made by journalists on television (which is often), I just roll my eyes and cringe. Yesterday, however, was a different story. Yesterday the situation was more than just a reporter providing facts post hoc. The reporter was, in a way, participating in the memorial service as he explained it, and, by extension, allowing us to participate. The reporter's bungling of the pronunciation of "bugler" made the reporter seem inadequate, inexperienced, and ill-prepared for the job. It also was disrespectful--maybe not knowingly disrespectful--but disrespectful just the same.

My blogging friend Sherry at Ex Marks the Spot wrote a great post recently about a college that inadvertently listed its department of "public" health as "pubic" health. I'm ashamed to admit, that I missed the spelling error myself when I first read her post. I obviously just wasn't reading as carefully as I should have been. Much like that reporter yesterday who whipped through the script for the memorial service at Fort Hood without reading--or even thinking--about what he was reading and ended up extrapolating the word "burglar" for "bugler."

Did you hear the "burglar"-"bugler" error yesterday? Have you heard any reporter errors that have damaged the seriousness of the story and/or the reporter's credibility?

(photos from www.covert-cam.com and https://infosecurity.us)

Getting Writing Advice from a Manual Filled with Errors

2009-11-10T09:38:00.005-06:00

Throughout my doctoral program and all during the years that I taught at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, there was one book always by my side: the APA (American Psychological Association) Publication Manual. I remember the fourth volume when I first started out in my graduate program—a thick (too thick I often thought) brown book of rules and regulations on exactly how to write and format a paper for the social sciences (that included Communication). Sometime during the 14 years I spent at UL-Lafayette, the fifth volume of the Publication Manual came out. It had a cover with a snappy grey, black and red design (see example), and my copy quickly became dog-eared as I used it constantly to check formatting and stylistic questions for my many research articles, and also in teaching my students how to write a proper research paper.

Now--drum roll--the brand new APA Publication Manual is out. It has a beautiful blue cover as you can see. I, however, will not be buying this sixth volume, not because I no longer need it to write papers or teach classes (which I don't--hurray for retirement!). No, I won’t be buying it because the new volume is evidently so rife with stylistic and formatting ERRORS that the APA has had to recall it. In their defense, the APA is promising to replace the faulty manual for any purchasers who contact them between November 2 and December 15.

If you think this is all a tempest in a teapot, imagine a newly released dictionary with a massive number of misspelled words. Imagine a popular cookbook with incorrect ingredients or amounts listed in many of the recipes. We wonder why students can’t write. Well, maybe part of it has to do with the fact that the people who write the writing manuals can’t write themselves.

If you’re interested in reading about the flap over the new APA Publication Manual, check out Jennifer Howard’s article in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Any thoughts, readers, about the APA's new Publication Manual?

Your Personal Space Bubble

2009-11-08T09:32:00.010-06:00

It goes with you everywhere--your own personal space bubble. Of course, it's imaginary, and yet very real. In my last post, I discussed the concept of territoriality and how you all have various places that you consider yours even if they are not. Today, I'd like to discuss the related concept of personal space. Unlike territoriality which remains in one location and doesn't move when you do, your personal space bubble travels with you. You can think of personal space as an imaginary bubble that totally surrounds you and moves with you. How large the bubble is depends upon you and how comfortable you feel in close proximity to others. If you are not bothered being very close to others, your personal bubble is very small; if being close to others bothers you in any way, your personal space bubble is much larger. Only you know how big your bubble is.

Although there are individual differences in bubble size from one person to another, the greatest differences are probably cultural. That is, in some cultures (such as Latin American or Middle Eastern) people tend to feel comfortable in crowds and thus, their personal space bubbles are generally small. However, in other cultures (such as Asian or Scandinavian), where crowding behavior is less tolerated, the personal space bubble of individuals is typically much larger. In the United States, most of us have personal space bubbles of moderate size.

How do you know the size of your own personal space bubble? Just think about how you feel when you find yourself in the middle of a tightly packed group of people. If such a situation makes you feel warm and cozy, your bubble is probably quite small. If such a situation creeps you out and you can't wait to get some privacy, then your bubble is probably quite large. Most of us are somewhere in the middle.

What is the size of your personal space bubble?

(photos from http://home.xtra.co.nz and www.bob-baker.com)