Bringin’ Grammar Back. It’s time for the revenge of the grammar nerds! Proofreading company Kibin did a survey of 1,700 online daters and their feelings about grammar, and the answers might surprise you. Not only did 43 percent of respondents say that poor grammar is a “major turn-off,” but 35 percent said they find good grammar sexy. That’s a win for grammar lovers everywhere! And it’s not just Kibin. Match.com’s survey of 5,000 online singles found that when sizing up a potential date, both men and women ranked grammar as very important—right after teeth. So if “C U L8ter” is like nails on a chalkboard for you, take comfort in knowing that you’re not alone. Next up? "Grammar Is Sexy" t-shirts for all!
Ghostwriting Cupids. In honor of everyone’s favorite holiday for love, let's take a look at the softer side of ghostwriting. Dating consultants are getting into the e-dating business to help singles with everything from editing and writing their profiles to crafting the perfect flirtatious email. So far only 14 percent of online daters have someone proofread their profiles, but the “Cyrano for hire” business is taking off. Want to see a ghostwriting cupid at work? New York Magazine gave an inside look at one consultant’s handiwork. And perhaps as word spreads that grammar is sexy, more singles will seek out dating ghostwriters to avoid becoming Dating Profile Disasters fodder.
Dating by the Book. Most people know of the eHarmonys and Match.coms of the online dating world, but for those with a much more specific checklist for prospective partners, there's a vast subset of niche dating sites. For political junkies who don’t want to date across the aisle, there's love along party lines on redstatedate.com and bluestatedate.com. If computer choice is a deal-breaker, Cupidtino caters to those who only want to date Mac owners. So naturally book lovers have their own niche dating site: Alikewise. Started in 2008, the site matches users based on their taste in books, using an algorithm similar to Amazon’s. Interested in joining? Flavorwire has 25 Pickup Lines to Use on Alikewise to get you started.
Showing posts with label New York Magazine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York Magazine. Show all posts
Friday, February 22, 2013
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Babble Bubble Trouble
One of our favorite word-nerd articles of the year was the recent New York Magazine cover story about what was cutely referred to as the “babble bubble”—the explosion of big-think, TED-like conferences and the mass speechifying they have spawned. What was most interesting to us was the big-think questions the piece spawned: Is this bubble likely to pop relatively soon, as writer Benjamin Wallace suggests, a fad to soon fade away? Or are these fabulous confabs looking like an enduring fixture?
To get some expert perspective, we asked some of our speechwriting pros about the implications for our industry, and unsurprisingly, their opinions led in many different directions.
James Buchanan, a business journalist, writer, and editor, is in favor of anything that encourages intellectual rigor and affords us the time to contemplate new ideas. “In the modern digital world, communication and data/information sharing happens so fast that we barely have time to think about the implications of what we hear. TED and others provide a moment of time and clarity where we can hear what others think, they can explain their insights and the implications of those insights, and we can develop our own opinions. As a writer, this can only be of help. Ideas spark books, which spark ideas, which spark books, and on and on.”
On the other hand, Michael Gural-Maiello, an accomplished business writer who writes regularly for Forbes, comes in on the other side of the fence. “The undoing of these people is their unapologetic elitism; look at the pathetic complaints about all of the ‘betas’ being let into the room. I think the saddest observation [in the article] was that the TED Talk has replaced the book as the ultimate ambition for somebody who wants to express themselves. That's certainly evidence that we've lost site of the breadth and scope of human experience. Or maybe it's just easier to talk for 18 minutes than it is to write 300 coherent pages.”
In the middle we have Assaf Kedem, an award-winning speechwriter and communications strategist, who takes a historical view of these conferences. “Confabs have been around for longer than one may realize. Their modern-day version, in some respects, is a reincarnation of the historical town meetings that date back to previous centuries. Today’s ‘fabulous confab’ is more exclusive, glamorous, and intellectually specialized. But whatever form it takes, the essential confab is here to stay so long as there is a marketplace of ideas to be exchanged.”
As the Millions noted yesterday, it’s suddenly fashionable to hate on TED. But hating is still discussing, and as long as we’re doing that, we don’t think the reign of the “babble bubble” is likely to wind down anytime soon.
To get some expert perspective, we asked some of our speechwriting pros about the implications for our industry, and unsurprisingly, their opinions led in many different directions.
James Buchanan, a business journalist, writer, and editor, is in favor of anything that encourages intellectual rigor and affords us the time to contemplate new ideas. “In the modern digital world, communication and data/information sharing happens so fast that we barely have time to think about the implications of what we hear. TED and others provide a moment of time and clarity where we can hear what others think, they can explain their insights and the implications of those insights, and we can develop our own opinions. As a writer, this can only be of help. Ideas spark books, which spark ideas, which spark books, and on and on.”
On the other hand, Michael Gural-Maiello, an accomplished business writer who writes regularly for Forbes, comes in on the other side of the fence. “The undoing of these people is their unapologetic elitism; look at the pathetic complaints about all of the ‘betas’ being let into the room. I think the saddest observation [in the article] was that the TED Talk has replaced the book as the ultimate ambition for somebody who wants to express themselves. That's certainly evidence that we've lost site of the breadth and scope of human experience. Or maybe it's just easier to talk for 18 minutes than it is to write 300 coherent pages.”
In the middle we have Assaf Kedem, an award-winning speechwriter and communications strategist, who takes a historical view of these conferences. “Confabs have been around for longer than one may realize. Their modern-day version, in some respects, is a reincarnation of the historical town meetings that date back to previous centuries. Today’s ‘fabulous confab’ is more exclusive, glamorous, and intellectually specialized. But whatever form it takes, the essential confab is here to stay so long as there is a marketplace of ideas to be exchanged.”
As the Millions noted yesterday, it’s suddenly fashionable to hate on TED. But hating is still discussing, and as long as we’re doing that, we don’t think the reign of the “babble bubble” is likely to wind down anytime soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
© 2008 Gotham Ghostwriters, All rights reserved.
Posts
