Blog - Page 10 of 17 - Judy Gregory Writer

All care and no responsibility

Last week I was in Port Douglas (eclipse watching, of course) There are warning signs everywhere - mostly about crocodiles and marine stingersThis warning sign, at Mossman Gorge, grabbed my attention:I like the way that the sign acknowledges that people will swim and acknowledges the ability of people to make decisions about their safetySo often, in places like this, you come across simple statements like 'don't swim here' or 'swimming here is dangerous' Instead, this sign clearly explains what...

Using the 3rd person with children

Why do people refer to themselves in the third person when they're talking to childrenThis week I listened to a conversation between a mother and son while they were collecting new glasses from the optometrist The son looked to be about 8, and was being told that he should clean his glasses every night The mother said something like:'You'll give them to Mummy every night, like your sister does, and Mummy will clean them for you Mummy can look after them'Presumably the boy is used to the...

Fabulous tools for writers

I've just finished reading the book 'Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer' by Roy Peter ClarkIt's perhaps the best 'toolkit-style' book about writing that I've ever come acrossNo 'correctness' discussions here This book is all about how language works, and how to fine-tune the writing craftMy favourite strategies come from the beginning of the book, in the nuts and bolts section I particularly appreciated the discussions about adverbs (use with care and be sure to avoid...

Indexes as a navigation tool

I'm always interested in the ways that readers navigate through documents - whether in a print or electronic environment How can we produce documents that are easy for readers to access without getting lost, and without getting frustrated And how can we produce documents that readers can refer back toContents lists and indexes are perhaps the most common navigation tools that function at the whole-document level The quality of the contents list and, in particular, the index, can be...

The extinguished bus … being precise with meaning

In everyday conversation, we're often not very precise with our words Most of the time, people understand our intention and our meaning is conveyed Usually, we don't even notice misplaced meanings because we're focusing on the intention and the overall content, rather than specific words and links within sentencesBut sometimes I hear something that makes me giggle Like a radio news report that I heard this morning The journalist announced:"Firefighters have extinguished a burning bus on...

The Enforcement side of the ‘3E’s

I've always thought that the Three Es theory of social marketing is a useful way of thinking about behaviour change The three Es are education, enforcement, and engineering -- and behaviour change is most likely to be successful when the three Es all work togetherThis week I saw an interesting version of engineering -- presumably being used because education and enforcement weren't having the desired effectThe engineering that's happening here is that pedestrians are prevented from...

Home Page or Front Page?

I'm noticing a shift away from the term 'home page' as the name for the entry page of a website It's starting to be called a 'front page'I wonder whether this reflects the way that websites are becoming just another form of public communication - one that sits alongside other communication media rather than being something quite different Are we beginning to apply print/book terminology to websites as the different communication media begin to mergeOr is it that 'front page' better describes...

Help readers to draw the conclusion you intend

Here's another example of a sign that expects readers to draw the right conclusion:It appears outside my local McDonald's, which is currently undergoing renovationThe problem with this sign, from my perspective, is that it doesn't make the conclusion clear for readers Why should people use the drive through And what is the link between drive through and renovationsAnd, if I want to get picky, why use the awkward 'due to', which makes the whole thing seem so stuffyMaybe the...

Euphemism at the shops … we can’t talk about price increases

There was a lovely little sign at my local supermarket yesterday wish I'd had the sense to photograph itIt was next to the price tag for tomatoes, and went something like this:Due to unseasonably dry weather in the growing regions, tomatoes are in short supply This has caused prices to firm We apologise for any inconvenienceTo me, a 'firm' price is a stable one - a price that's unlikely to change quickly But, of course, in this situation, 'firm' is a euphemism for 'increase' (actually,...