by Evan LaBuzetta | Nov 3, 2020 | language use
This is true: When I was in my early 30s, I regularly texted pictures of poop to a woman I know. It’s also dishonest. Since my last post here four years ago, I’ve had a lot of incentive to think about truth and honesty. The political events of the last 4 years have...
by Evan LaBuzetta | Nov 6, 2016 | language use, the perils of business language
Political writing is a huge topic, of course, but I want to focus on one particular hazard that hopefully won’t come across as a purely partisan opinion. It has to do with slogans. Noun verb ambiguity–the so-called “ambicategoricality...
by Evan LaBuzetta | Sep 17, 2016 | intercultural considerations, language use, ruminations
This blog won’t often feature math, but in this case I think it’s for a good cause. It’s hard to quantify levels of understanding between people–you end up with squishy language like “a lot” or “pretty well”. But...
by Evan LaBuzetta | Aug 19, 2016 | language use, the perils of business language
“Do not write so that you can be understood, write so that you cannot be misunderstood.” If you look around online, you’ll find some version of this quote attributed to Robert Lewis Stevenson, William Howard Taft, Epictetus, and probably others. A...
by Evan LaBuzetta | Jun 29, 2016 | language use, the perils of business language
I’d like to take a position that runs counter to my own professional interests (and, honestly, the urgings of my soul). We shouldn’t focus too much on “errors” in English. I, of all people, understand the temptation to point them out. But...