Can you pronounce these brands?

Imagine what it must be like to be a brand manager for Givenchy. Sure, your job is to manage a French couture fashion label, but your brand name is repeatedly mangled. How do you manage a brand when many people can’t even say it? Perhaps the first place to start is by building awareness. Below are some of the most commonly mispronounced brand names and their correct pronunciations. How many of these can you pronounce correctly? Pronunications from Pronounce it right, How do you say that word, and YouTube’s How to pronounce. Alfa Romeo (an Italian car...

Words even you may be mispronouncing

Under the #mispronounced, Twitter users are sharing words they’ve hilariously mispronounced at one time or another. The tweets are spectacular. The English language — with its silent letters, odd accent placement, and words borrowed from other languages — can be a pronunciation minefield. Below are some of the most common mispronounced words Twitter users are sharing. Click on the word to hear the sometimes-surprising and sometimes-controversial pronunciations. (Definitions and pronunciations are from Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com.) Acai — a small, purple...

6 fictional journalists and how to pitch...

Many fiction writers choose journalism for the profession of their main character. After all, journalists make good narrators, and they are often where the action is. Below are a few of my favorite fictional journalists, who inspire me with their talent, wit and sense of adventure—along with guidance on how to approach them with a pitch. 1. Irwin “Fletch” Fletcher From the 1985 movie “Fletch.” Everyone’s favorite undercover journalist, Fletch spars with everyone from his editor to a millionaire bigamist to a corrupt police chief to get the story. All while...

How to politely decline unsolicited advi...

No matter where it comes from, unsolicited advice often goes awry. It’s one thing to receive feedback when you’ve asked for it. It’s quite another to receive unsolicited advice from an officious co-worker or your mother-in-law. Even worse is when the “advisor” demands detailed explanations of your decisions and argues with you if you don’t follow their suggestions. This behavior can stall your projects, waste time, and derail your self-confidence. Here are a few ways to politely and professionally tell your “advisors” to mind their own business (even when...

There’s a word for that?!

As PR and communication professionals — as well as writers and editors — many of us spend our days correcting other people’s writing. This can be a taxing task, so sometimes it’s fun to take a break and play with words. In this post, let’s explore a few words that will make you say “There’s a word for that?” (Definitions from Wordnik and Oxford Dictionaries.) Aposiopesis — to stop abruptly and leave a statement unfinished, giving the impression that the writer or speaker is unwilling or unable to continue; pretending to conceal something but mentioning...

Test your knowledge of these famous phra...

Many PR pros have a love-hate relationship with language. We love to discover new words and new meanings; yet, there are many words we would wish away if we could. Many of these unwanted words and catchphrases have been around for decades and are here to stay. Catchphrases come from a variety of sources: TV, movies, sports, politics or advertising. Some catchphrases might be so familiar, that you don’t think twice about where they came from. For example, I never knew the menacing phrase “It’s 10 o’clock. Do you know where your children are?” came from PSAs that...