The owner of a car lot narrated the following radio ad:

“…These cars are heavily incentivized…”

Incentivized?

I’ve heard of “offering incentives”-but incentivized?  I had to check it out. Sure enough, it’s in the dictionary, and it means “to give incentives to.” Another form of the verb is incentivizing (what a mouthful!).

I stand corrected. Incentivized really is a word. But is it the appropriate word to use when advertising cars-or anything, for that matter? It’s a hundred dollar word. For those of you who speak English as a second language, “hundred dollar word” is when someone uses a big, impressive-sounding word when a small one will do.

What could the car salesman have said instead of, “These cars are heavily incentivized”?

How about:

• Buy this car today, and you’ll get a $2,000 rebate.
• Our cars are priced to sell.
• No one is buying our cars during this recession, and we’re panicking. To keep from going out of business, we’re offering you the best discount ever.

OK, that last one probably wouldn’t work, even though it’s closest to the truth.

Which brings up another hundred dollar phrase:  economic downturn

Sounds so soft, palatable, and hopeful, doesn’t it? We all know it’s a recession, so just call it what it is!

Here’s another one that drives me crazy: leverage

Whenever I attend business meetings, people talk about leveraging this and that. The word started out as a noun that means “power or ability to influence people, events, decisions,” or “to get a high return off one’s investment.”  Now converted into a verb, it’s  batted around in the marketing world like a beach ball. People must think “leveraging” makes them sound important and educated.

Yes, I understand it’s easier to say, “Let’s leverage our investment” instead  of, “Let’s shoot for a high return on our investment.”

But it would comfort me to hear people speaking like human beings and not robots.

Here are more hundred dollar words I found online:

• Irrefutably: Michael Phelps is irrefutably the world record holder in several swimming events.
• I concur: I concur with your hypothesis, Sherlock.
• Wherewithal and doggedly: The detective had the wherewithal to doggedly pursue the kidnapper.
• Precipitate and hereby: Your actions hereby precipitate a lawsuit.

Your turn! What hundred dollar words grate like fingers on a chalkboard? How many can you cram into one sentence?

Tags: HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, hundred dollar words, legalese, Putrid Prose

Seen inside a public toilet stall:

• Toilet out of order. Please use floor below.

In an office break room:

• After tea break staff should empty the teapot and stand upside down on the draining board.

Tags: HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, Putrid Prose, Writing

October 6, 2008, 7-9 p.m.

• NCWA, Seattle
• Jim and Laura teach workshops on branding/marketing and blogging

October 12, 2008, 2-4 p.m.

• CRAVEbusiness Coffee Chat, Pan Pacific Hotel, Seattle
• Laura teaches business blogging

Feb 26 – March 1, 2009

• Florida Christian Writers’ Conference
• Jim and Laura teach four workshops

Spring 2009

• Northwest Christian Writers’ Renewal Conference
• Jim and Laura teach workshops

Jim and Laura are now booking speaking engagements for the remainder of 2008 and 2009. We offer a variety of customized presentations, training events, and interactive, hands-on courses on marketing, blogging, and writing topics.

We are available to speak at:

• Corporate/work team training events
• Conferences for writers, marketers, and bloggers
• Business development conferences
• Trade shows
• Associations
• Churches
• Entrepreneurial networking events
• Volunteer service organizations

For more information, visit our Resources pages or contact our speakers’ agent, Katie Johnson, at fusionmarketingandconsulting.com.

Tags: Blogging, HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, Jim Rubart, Laura Christianson, Marketing, Seattle speakers, speaking engagements, Writing

Heard on the radio:

 “When I was a little girl, I had a fragrant disregard for taking my shoes off when I entered my house.”

The deejay must have had really stinky feet when she was younger–which would account for her fragrant disregard.

She meant to say flagrant (which means blatant).

More Putrid Prose:

• Funny Chinese>English Translation
• Direct mail piece stinks up the mailbox
• Even the experts don’t write good sometimes

Your turn! Send us funny examples of Putrid Prose that you see or hear. If we feature your submission, we’ll include a short bio about you and a link to your site.

Tags: HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, Putrid Prose, word choice

A little pedal power can help reduce the world’s carbon emissions. Matthew Modine’s September 20 “Bicycle for a Day” campaign intends to do just that.

Learn details about how you can participate and how the proceeds will be used at Flora’s Northwest Flower & Garden Show blog. (Yes, we manage their blog).

There’s also a video about Matthew and his campaign at bettertv.com.

Tags: bettertv.com, Bicycle for a Day, HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, Matthew Modine, Northwest Flower & Garden Show

Take a look at the following sentence. Does it work for you?

“Yesterday was Labor Day here in the US. I spent a good share of the day moving all the stuff around in my office so I could fit in my new filing cabinet.”

The author of this sentence is a friend (and a brilliant writer) so we asked him about it. He thinks the sentence is clear. But both Laura and I interpreted it differently.

At first glance, Laura thought he was saying he moved things around so he could fit his stuff into his filing cabinet.

I thought he might be attempting the office version of twenty college students jamming themselves into a phone booth.

Or perhaps, the writer was merely trying to fit his filing cabinet into his cluttered office.

Laura says, even if you add the pronoun “it” to the sentence, it would still have a double meaning:  “… moving all the stuff around in my office so I could fit it in my new filing cabinet.” You might still wonder whether he’s trying to fit his entire office into his file cabinet.

Best to rewrite the sentence: I spent a good share of the day rearranging my office to create space for my new filing cabinet.

The point is, in writing, something as tiny as one word can send people off in multiple directions, none of which you intended.

And why whenever possible, grab a fellow writer bud and have them review your prose.

(Yes, of course I know I should have used “well” in the headline. Laura is WAY better at grammar than me, but I’m not completely inept.)

Tags: HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, Putrid Prose, Writing

Have you ever stared at your computer, waiting for inspiration to strike?

Here’s a quick tip I picked up at Daniel Scocco’s DailyBlogTips: Use your non-dominant hand to operate your mouse.

It’s all about stimulating those neural connections between the right and left sides of your brain, says Daniel.  Doing something out-of-the-ordinary exercises your brain and may jolt it right out of writer’s block.

So, move that mouse to the opposite side of your computer right now and give it a try.

Let us know how it works.

Tags: Blogging, creativity, HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, Writing

A good blog should be loaded with helpful links to other sites. Why?

1. Offering useful links positions you as the go-to source for excellent info on your topic. Readers who trust your link will come back for more.
2. The owners of the sites you link to will often link back to you – or refer their readers to your site – a win-win for everyone.
3. Search engines index hyperlinks; when you link properly, your blog will move up in the rankings.

Many bloggers hyperlink incorrectly. All too often, their links look like this:

For more info on this topic, click here.

What do you suppose the phrase “click here” means to a search engine?

Absolutely nothing.

When you create a hyperlink, never highlight the phrase, “click here.” Instead, highlight the keyword-rich anchor text, like this:

Learn about Piracy, Murder, and Mayhem on the Kitsap Peninsula at the Alderbrook Properties blog.

Notice that I highlighted two sets of anchor text in one sentence.

• The first is the permanent link to the blog post (“Piracy, Murder…”).
• The second is a link to the main Alderbrook Properties blog page.

Two for the price of one!

Related Articles:

• How to compress URLs when linking

Tags: anchor text, Blogging, creating hyperlinks, HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, search engine rankings

Football season is in full swing, and for fanatical fans, that means one thing: parking lot parties!

Professional tailgater, Joe Cahn, shares his list of ten must-haves for successful tailgating over at our client’s blog: Rich’s for the Home.

I knew that barbecue sauce is a required ingredient at a tailgate party, but toilet paper? A waterproof oven mitt? Check out Joe’s handy checklist — in fact, print it out and use it for reference before heading off to the next game!

Tags: HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, Joe Cahn, Rich's for the Home, tailgating parties

In previous posts, Jim argued that advertising in the yellow pages is a waste of money.

• Yellow Page Advertising: Waste? Or Essential Marketing?
• Yellow Pages, Revisited

Seems that a growing number of hotel chains agree; they’re eliminating phone books (both white and yellow pages) from their hotel rooms.

You’ll no longer find a phone book in your room at Omni Hotels, Hyatt Hotels, Hyatt Place, Kimpton Hotels, Westin, Sheraton, Aloft, and Element Hotels.

Hotel management cites the following reasons:

1. No one uses phone books. Most travelers look up numbers via the Internet connection in their room, or they use their own smart-phone.
2. Phone books create clutter. They take up valuable drawer space and collect dust.
3. Phone books are not “green.” They create paper waste.

The Yellow Pages Association is spitting nails, claiming that phone books are referenced 13.4 billion times a year in the US, and warning that hotel guests will be “upset”—particularly those who have to pay for in-room internet access or who don’t want to wait in long lines to see the concierge.

Are you upset? Weigh in with your opinion.

Here’s the good news:

• Phone books are still available at the hotel’s front desk.
• Bibles in hotel rooms haven’t been deemed a waste of space.

Source: “More hotels are evicting phone books from rooms,” USA TODAY, July 31, 2008

Tags: HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, hotels, phone books, yellow page advertising