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TRUMPING DONALD’S GRAMMAR

Last night on “Celebrity Apprentice,” Donald Trump corrected Cyndi Lauper’s grammar. She said “I feel bad.”

He said it’s “I feel badly.”

He’s wrong.

If you are expressing an emotion, it’s correct to say “bad.”

Saying “I feel badly” means you can’t physically feel things very well – your sense of touch is off. Your fingers don’t work well.

Remember: you wouldn’t say you “feel madly” or “feel sadly,” right?

This applies to other verbs that describe senses, e.g. taste and smell. “Smell bad” means you stink; “smell badly” means your sense of smell is off.

Donald, you’re fired as a grammar coach.

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Irish Soda Bread

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I’m sharing the Irish Soda Bread recipe passed down by my grandmother. Nanny brought this recipe with her when she emigrated from Ireland. It’s been enjoyed at many family events.

Some like to put butter on it, but I prefer it plain. Many swear a cup of tea with milk is the right accompaniment.

Traditional Irish Soda Bread is a type of quick bread. Instead of yeast for leavening, baking soda is used.

NANNY NORA’S IRISH SODA BREAD

5 ½ cups of Flour
1 teaspoon of Cream of Tartar
1 ½ teaspoons of baking soda
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ to ¾ cup sugar
1 pound of raisins
1 quart of buttermilk

MIX WELL.

Bake at 325 degrees in 2 greased loaf pans for 1 hour, 10 minutes or until a toothpick put into the bread comes out clean.

Let cool. Wrap in foil for several hours, or overnight, for best flavor.

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Two Twitter Skeptics Walk Into a Bar @SXSW

Yesterday in Austin, I was having lunch at the bar at Champions. Mike, a guy sitting next to me, said he was working in the AV department for SXSW. I mentioned it was nice to be talking to someone in person for a change here in Austin. He mentioned that he and his wife recently were discussing “face-to-face” contact and how Twitter/Facebook impedes that. We both mentioned we originally didn’t “get” Facebook or Twitter, but have now been assimilated, he more to Facebook, and I to both Twitter and Facebook.

I apologized for looking at Twitter while talking to him. I was trying to find out where some of the people I follow on Twitter were in Austin, at the same time decrying the trouble I was having meeting people at the conference because people were always on their phone. I had spent a day and a half at conferences where I would rarely get the chance to talk to anyone next to me because they were on their phone. (Disclaimer: okay, I was on my phone, too.)

As we discussed whether Twitter served a great purpose or not, I saw a tweet from a SXSWpresenter, Kristina Halvorson (@halvorson). She said she was in Ballroom A for her presentation, which began in about 45 minutes and she needed a wireless microphone. Um, I thought. I’m sitting right next to an AV guy for the conference. I turned to him and explained what had happened. He didn’t seem to believe me at first. He put his head in his hands and said, “She’s “TWEETING” about that?” It sounded silly to him at first. Then he realized he could actually do something about it.

He got on the phone, called one of his co-workers, and had them go to Ballroom A to assist Kristina. Still in shock, he shook his head and said, “What are the odds that you would get that tweet and would be sitting next to someone who could do something about it?”

As we contemplated that, we conceded there was more to this Twitter thing than we realized. My guess is Kristina used all her options – trying to find someone in the center and sending out an SOS on Twitter. Maybe the Twitter SOS was more of an update for her and she didn’t expect someone to really help her. I don’t know if Kristina got the help Mike sent her way, or if she had already found someone in the convention center to help her. But her tweet could have been the answer to her problem, due to Mike’s dispatching.

What’s the lesson here? That some seemingly innocuous Twitter updates may mean more to others than to you? Sure.

But also: That face-to-face stuff is still important, or else I wouldn’t have met Mike and gotten an actual solution for Kristina.

SXSW rocks! (Twitter’s not so bad, either….)

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I.E. versus E.G.

In honor of the third annual National Grammar Day celebrated on March 4, let’s take a look at “i.e.” versus “e.g.” I’ve seen even professional writers get this one wrong.

Let’s start with “i.e.” As I remember from my high school Latin classes, it stands for “id est,” which literally means “that is.” If you think of it as “that is” or “in other words,” you’ll be fine.

Now, “e.g.” is Latin for “exempli gratia,” or in plain English, “by way of example.” So, think of it as meaning “for example.”

So, they should be used in this way:

We should all strive for good grammar on this greatest of all holidays, i.e., National Grammar Day.
Content Strategy yields a number of deliverables, e.g., content audits, editorial styles guides and gap analyses.Note:

  1. “i.e.” and “e.g.” are abbreviations, so don’t forget the period after each letter.
  2. Use a comma after both “i.e.” and “e.g.”
  3. Use a comma before both “i.e.” and “e.g.” (unless it is at the beginning of a sentence – and yes, it’s okay to begin a sentence with either “i.e.” or “e.g.”)
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For Me, The Twitter/Kutcher Net Race was all about the Other Nets

It’s hard to escape the buzz about Ashton Kutcher beating CNN in the “Twitter Race.” Opinions abound on the subject:

  1. I DON’T CARE!!!
  2. Power to the People!
  3. Twitter has turned into a popularity contest
  4. Twitter is now officially – heaven forbid – MAINSTREAM
  5. This is Changing the Face of Media
  6. Twitter is dead (meaning either it has caused its own demise or for the more dramatic among us: “you are dead to me, Twitter, sob, sob, dead to me”)

And Oprah will talk about web phenom Twitter with Ashton on TV today. Ah, the synergy.

I admit I was one of the people egging Kutcher on. On Facebook, I even posted updates of the “race” in an effort to get people to “follow” Kutcher on Twitter. Was I motivated by “beating the man,” namely the corporation CNN? Nah, for me it was all about the malaria nets.

The cynical among us will call Kutcher’s promise to buy 10,000 anti-mosquito nets for Africa a marketing ploy, a cheap trick, etc., to get his Twitter followers to a million. Is Kutcher just looking for more publicity? Or is he really trying to show the power of the people on social media sites?

In the end, does all that matter? Not to me. For me, it was always all about the anti-mosquito nets. If even one life could be saved, it was all worth it. And 10,000 malaria nets will surely save many lives. That thought makes me feel all warm and happy. Sure, Kutcher could have donated that money anyway without the contest. But I give him credit for turning what could have been just a publicity stunt or ego race into a humanitarian act.

Recently Kutcher was lagging behind CNN in the race, even with the promise of the nets, before Electronic Arts stepped in and offered to put the one millionth “follower” in their new video Game SIMS 3. At first, the percentage of new followers being added actually dropped off, as people were apparently waiting for others to join so they could be closer to the one millionth mark and possibly hit it. So Electronic Arts added more prizes to random follower numbers to encourage participation. And it worked. So self-interest induced many to “follow” Kutcher on Twitter. But whatever the motivation, things worked out great for the people who will never get malaria because of the promised nets.

So kudos to Kutcher for reaching out to people on Twitter. He has been taking questions and comments and responding to tweets, so he is being a good social media user.

But kudos most of all to Kutcher and to us for saving lives. Now that’s the real power of the people.

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Twitter: 1, Pizza (Domino’s): 0

When two Domino’s employees posted an online video this week showing them tampering with food in particularly disgusting ways (and no, I’m not going to link to it – I believe it has been taken down anyway), a company spokesman said they knew people on Twitter were wondering what the company was doing about it.

“We got blindsided by two idiots with a video camera and an awful idea,” said Tim McIntyre, a Domino’s spokesman.

“Even people who’ve been with us as loyal customers for 10, 15, 20 years, people are second-guessing their relationship with Domino’s, and that’s not fair.”

According to McIntyre, “Well, we were doing and saying things, but they weren’t being covered in Twitter.”

Apparently McIntyre didn’t understand how Twitter works. It doesn’t “cover” things. It is, of course, an online community where anyone can post anything and respond to anything – including companies.

McIntyre was told about the existence of the online video on Monday. The video had been viewed more than a million times by Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday afternoon, Domino’s set up a Twitter account. By Wednesday evening, Domino’s chief executive appeared in a YouTube video.

McIntyre said, “It elevated to a point where just responding isn’t good enough.”

I think McIntyre missed the point. Domino’s was responding early on, but not on YouTube, the site where the video was seen, and not on Twitter, the site where people were asking questions. Granted, two days to produce and post a video is not bad. But the ability to monitor their brand on Twitter and to respond immediately to critics existed before this crisis. If Domino’s had already been on Twitter, they would have gained a couple of extra days of damage control.

I admit I was a Twitter skeptic. I still personally prefer Facebook to comment on people’s posts and to follow threads. I like having the comments listed together as they are on Facebook.

But for companies to get out information on their brands, Twitter is great. The short comments are an ideal venue for people to speak out and for companies to follow the comments.

I’m sure brands who haven’t taken to Twitter yet will be thinking twice now about getting a Twitter account. And for those looking for work, how does “Social Media Specialist” sound?

Footnote: And oh, yeah, as for the two lame-os who thought it was “funny” to cause a PR nightmare for a company in this already beaten-up economy: welcome to the unemployment line.

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Veterans Day, Possessives and Attributive Nouns

As we honor our veterans today, I got to thinking about the name of the day itself.

Which is correct: Veterans’ Day, Veteran’s Day, Veterans Day?

To figure it out, we need to examine each term.

  • Veterans’ Day is a plural noun in the possessive case
  • Veteran’s Day is a singular noun in the possessive case
  • Veterans Day is a plural noun, not possessive case (that is called an attributive, meaning it serves as a modifier and does not need to be possessive).

In deciding what is the correct term, we need to decide if the term “Veteran” should be possessive or if it is a modifier. To make things more complicated (ah, the complexity of the English language), there is no one rule here. So the best way to determine what term to use is to consult a dictionary or a style guide. Webster’s goes with “Veterans Day” as does the AP Stylebook. A quick look at today’s newspapers confirms the widespread use of “Veterans Day.”

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“The Shield” Searches for Shelter

“The Shield” is winding down, with just three episodes left to the series’ finale. I am very excited about tonight’s episode. When the show is on lately, I am actually really keyed up. I “feel a thrill up my leg” to steal a line – much mocked by his on-air cohorts – from Chris Matthews. From the very first show, when Mackey killed a fellow officer in cold blood, we knew this show would be a wild ride, and different from other cop shows. To have such a flawed main character was a great risk. How can you root for a man who does such terrible things?

But seeing Mackey’s love for his children, and his heartbreak over seeing two of his children suffer with autism, made it hard to really hate him. It’s a credit to the writers that they were able to humanize him after that great, but shocking, opening episode.

Heather Havrilesky of Salon wrote a great piece today on the show called “Rebel Without a Badge.”

http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/review/2008/11/11/the_shield/index.html?source=rss&aim=/ent/tv/review

She says that Corrine, Mackey’s ex-wife, decides to flip on Mackey when she learns from Mara, Shane’s wife, that Mackey killed fellow cop Terry and was involved in countless illegal acts. I think the final straw was realizing that Mackey might kill Mara’s unborn child. As a mother, that was too much for Corrine to take.

I read an online post that intimated that Olivia could be playing Mackey as well, that she is connected to Terry Crowley, the cop Mackey killed in the first episode. Intriguing. Would be fitting.

For me, somehow I can forgive Mackey more than Shane. Shane killed his teammate and friend, Lem. And Lem was a sweetheart – at least compared to the rest of the team. And Shane’s choice of Mara, the child of a gold-digger who seemed close to being one herself, doesn’t help his likeability factor.  Didn’t Mackey always warn Shane not to trust Mara? Will she end up flipping on him?

Heather hopes Mackey ends up on a Mexican beach swilling margaritas. I hope he can somehow salvage a relationship with his children. Lots of prison visits? Relocating the whole family under Witness Protection? Maybe Mary Shannon from USA’s “In Plain Site” could be his Marshall. That’s another fav show of mine – but that’s for another blog.

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Welcome to The Content Police Blog

It’s a great day to start a new blog  – the day after an historical U.S. election. This blog will be a place for me and others to express their thoughts on movies, TV shows, ads, magazines and well, whatever!

As a Copywriter and Content Strategist, I am very interested in content strategy techniques, social marketing, web trends, grammar, punctuation and copy editing, so those things will be commented on here as well.

Hope you enjoy some of these thoughts and offer some of your own.

The Content Police are on the case!

– Noreen Compton

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