As a child, I had a rather low opinion of poetry. I realise now that, on the whole, the poetry that we were exposed to at school was largely of the dumpity dump variety. Robert Browning’s How They Brought the … Continue reading
Many years ago now, on a sultry summer afternoon, with the drone of the city traffic struggling to be heard above the incessant chirping of the cicadas, a group of us, perhaps a dozen of us in all, gathered on … Continue reading
I used to work with a chap who, when asked for his opinion on something, would normally start by saying ‘I cannot tell a lie ….’ But this was not true. He could tell a lie as well as any … Continue reading
My love of written English really kicked in when I was eleven. My English teacher that year was a diminutive woman whose own passion was for copperplate handwriting. My recollection is that she didn’t much care for how you shaped … Continue reading
My dining companion was fulminating against the use of American English. The particular document that was causing him so much distress contained no American spelling. There was no sign of color in place of colour. And there was no suggestion … Continue reading
Back in the day (as one of my favourite reality TV characters is wont to say) I spent a few years working for an advertising agency. It was a time when just about every agency seemed to have its genesis … Continue reading
‘Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple.’ – Charles Mingus I remember an exchange, several years ago now, between my boss and the CEO of one of our biggest clients. The CEO was questioning our … Continue reading
One of my former bosses used to reckon that the basis of a good team was competence, confidence, and commitment. By competence he meant that each individual team member must be competent to execute the skills and exercise the judgements … Continue reading
I once heard the humorist Frank Muir describe classical music as ‘the kind of music that you keep hoping will turn into a tune.’ I often feel the same way about the utterances of some politicians. If I listen long … Continue reading
‘Grammar is a piano I play by ear.’ – Joan Didion Every now and then I seem to get into a discussion – OK, an argument – with one of the many self-appointed members of the language police. ‘You must … Continue reading