I like embroidering my plainspoken, earthy, everyday, quotidian speech with particularly Victorianesque embellishments and verbally diabolic adornments that I dredge up from profligate readings of literature, ephemera, and old Monty Python sketches. Or maybe I just like words with lots of syllables.
To that end, I sometimes clot my electro-mails and casual conversation with antique or rarely heard (among my peers, anyway) vocabulary.
In December, following up on an offer by coach Dave Kaiser, I took the Clifton StrengthsFinder online test. Dave recommended the $9.99 version that gives you your top 5 strengths out of a menu of 34.
The StrengthsFinder is a 100+ item test that purportedly feeds back those parts of your personality that most dominate your outlook and behavior.
One of the chief rules of tech writing -- or at least one of my chief rules -- is to not dump into the manual every scrap of information I have on hand.
The tech writer's job is to present, to select, to shape. As with art, it's not just about what you put in, it's about what you leave out.
Which means that Friday falls on:
It's easy to remember Doomsday for the even months. To remember the day for the odd months, use the mnemonic, "I work 9-to-5 at the 7-11."
As with all truly stupid things, there’s no responding to it, no engaging with it. Stupidity exists on a strata far below argument, out of the reach of right and wrong. Stupidity can’t be countered – it can only be mocked and shunned.
