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We came across this lovely story recently of an RAF pilot fighting the authorities for his right to wear a moustache.

It got us thinking what an odd word moustache is, so we looked it up to save you losing any sleep over its peculiarity.

Apparently, the English word moustache comes from the Middle French moustache, which in turn derives from the Old Italian mustaccio. This comes from Middle Greek moustaki, which is a diminutive of the Greek mystak or mystax, which means upper lip. Phew. By the time you’ve read that, you could almost have grown one.

Some of the most effective tools for clearer business writing are so obvious we tend to overlook them. Take bullet points, the unsung heroes of the print world.

Bullets work because they:

• Add structure and organization to your writing
• Provide multiple entry points in to the text
• Help simplify information
• Emphasise key points
• Improve comprehension

How to use bullets:

• Begin with a header/title followed by a colon (as above)
• Make sure that text and bullets are properly aligned
• Try to apply some sort of logical order, perhaps based on the alphabet, chronology or priority.

But watch out for these common bullet mistakes:

* Having too many of them: bullets should be used for emphasis, but if you emphasise too much, the emphasis is lost.

* Using different colours or fonts: the strongest colour is always black. Simplicity makes for clarity.

* Avoid non-parallel construction: bullet points still need to make grammatical sense and fit into the context of the paragraph. You’ll notice that the first two items in this list begin with a present participle ending in -ing. The third item (this one) doesn’t, and as a result it jars. It would have been better to start with ‘avoiding’ rather than ‘avoid’.

Bullets aren’t the answer to every writing problem, but they are a useful structural device to make your writing clearer, more readable and give key points greater impact.

The deipnosophists among you (go on, look it up), will love this site, Luciferous Logolepsy. It’s dedicated to weird and wonderful obscure English words. It’s certainly luciferous and not just for logoleptics.

It’s funny how certain words or phrases become fashionable. I’m not talking about obvious mots du jour like groovy or wicked, but more discrete verbal fashions. Iteration, last month’s word of the month, for example, seems to have been popping up all over the place in the last few months, as people presumably try and find a more high falutin’ way of saying version.

Take fit for purpose. Ever since John Reid, then Home Secretary, condemned the immigration service as ‘not fit for purpose‘, it’s become a phrase of choice for everyone from politicians to small business owners. A quick Google throws up, among millions, Sequence diagramming that’s fit for purpose and a cover sheet for small guest accommodation businesses to use as checklist when applying to be ‘Fit For Purpose’. We’ve even received press releases about ‘fit for purpose compost’.

Now, we’re all for rediscovering new words and improving our vocabularies, but it does become a bit annoying (not to say cliched) when everyone suddenly starts using the same phrases. Not to mention that there are numerous single words that could make the same point more concisely and just as, if not more, clearly.

 photo: jorgemejia

Readers - like all of us - are busy people. They want to know if and why they should continue reading your text. So in your copywriting, you need to grab their interest quickly, and not make them read through several lines of secondary information before you get to the point.

Forget what you learnt at school or university about starting an essay with a nice nuanced introduction to set the scene. We’re not writing essays. We’re trying to create business writing that grabs and retains the attention of busy readers with a clear and concise message.

The way to do that is to hit them immediately with the key point of what you’re trying to say so that:

Examples:

Not: John Solicitor studied law at Weeble College, Oxbridge. He qualified in 1987 and proceeded to specialise in property law. He spent the next ten years with a leading Magic Circle firm advising a range of clients. He was made partner in 1997. He joined ABC Solicitors in 1998 as a partner in the property finance team, of which he became head in 2003.

But: John Solicitor is head of our property finance team. He joined ABC Solicitors in 1998 and became head of the team in 2003. Prior to that, blah blah

Not: With 17 partners and 34 other fee earners spread across three offices, our employment team advises a range of clients from local owner managed businesses to national and international PLCs. It is the largest team in the North East and recognised as one of the leading teams outside the Magic Circle.

But: Our employment team is the largest in the North East and recognised as one of the leading teams outside London. We advise clients ranging from owner managed businesses to national and international PLCs, blah blah

photo credit: Melody.loves.you

This month’s word is iteration.

It means the repetition of an action or process; or an instance of such repetition. It comes from the Latin iterare - to repeat.

e.g. Can you send me a new iteration of the schedule as I’ve lost mine?

However, it is often used - incorrectly - as posh way of saying version. Strictly speaking, version suggests a new, updated copy of something that has changed since the previous one was produced, whereas iteration is merely another copy of the previous thing.

Big thanks to our ace web designer, Ali at Web2, who sent us a heap more daft headlines to chortle at. After all, it is Friday afternoon…

• Eye drops off shelf
• Squad helps dog bite victim
• Dealers will hear car talk at noon
• Enraged cow injures farmer with axe
• Lawmen from Mexico barbecue guests
• Miners refuse to work after death
• Two Soviet ships collide - one dies
• Two sisters reunite after eighteen years at checkout counter

Check out yet more here:
http://funnies.paco.to/Headlines.html

I’ve a feeling this topic could run and run…

There is a new phobia haunting us citizens of today’s 24/7 techno society - nomophobia. It means the fear of being out of mobile phone contact.

Apparently, millions of us are so dependent on our mobiles that discovering it is out of power or simply misplacing it sends stress levels soaring.

Thankfully, researchers have suggested some handy tips for minimising the risks of nomophobia: keep your credit topped up, carry a charger, give family and friends an alternative contact number and carry a pre-paid phonecard to make emergency calls if your mobile is broken, lost or stolen. Phew, thanks for those.

Alternatively, you could just switch the darn thing off and, in the words of one of our favourite Depeche Mode songs, enjoy the silence (below).

We’ve been doing some work on headline writing in our workshops recently. It reminded me of the story behind one of our favourite ever headlines:

Inverness Caledonian Thistle (or ‘Caley’), a Scottish football team from the lower divisions (apologies to any Scottish readers), were playing Glasgow Celtic in the cup. This is the equivalent of, say, Northwich Victoria playing Manchester United.

Anyhow, in one of the biggest upsets in Scottish football, Inverness won, against a woeful Celtic, spawning the headline:

‘Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious.’

I bet the journalist who came up with that one has been dining out on it ever since.

Do you know any better ones? If you do, let us know using the comments link below. We’ll be compiling the best ones for a future post.

We love words. After all, that’s why we’re professional business writers. But even we, in the midst of the most exciting project ever, would be hard pressed to match the intensity of this little fella:

A fine example of the power of the written word…I wonder what he’s reading?