Stronger Connected

"Oh my gosh, how can you stand that billboard at Franklin and Tennessee?" asked my coworker, who called me while stopped at the intersection.  She was referring to this:

This is an example of grammar that, while not technically incorrect, is just awkward. According to the Columbia Business Times, "Stronger Connected" is a trademarked slogan developed as part of communications giant CenturyTel's 2009 rebranding to CenturyLink.

The slogan generated 18 responses on the http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r23428650-Grammar-Question site, many of which questioned whether "Stronger Connected" is grammatically correct. Two of my favorite comments were:

I think they should have chosen a less confusing wording. (from nwrickert)

and

I agree that more gooder grammar would have certainly been the case here. (from John Gault)

Gooder or not, my mind wants to tinker with this wording. Although it is less concise, I would go with "Be more strongly connected to what you love." The problem with my mind's revision is that it may not be true to CenturyLink's intent, which is (possibly) that I feel that I would be STRONGER (i.e. more fortified) if I could easily and affordably connect to what (or who) I love.

Here in Tallahassee, we have another member of the "Stronger Connected" family, on Capital Circle Northeast:

The "Stronger Connected to What You Love" sign was obscured in September when a Leon High School (across the street) took it over (literally, our Principal was sitting up there on the ledge along with the Athletic Director) as part of the run-up to Leon's Poker Run to fight cancer. My friend Susan, who teaches math at Leon and is a serious language lover to boot, said she was sad to see the "Stronger Connected" billboard reappear - she said it irritates her every time she sees it on her way to work.

Wouldn't you love to have been in on the brainstorming sessions that resulted in the creation of this slogan? If this is what merited the outlay of valuable advertising funds, I wonder what slogans didn't become contenders!

Ken McMahon, Vice President and General Manager, said "The message is that together we're stronger. We believe in connecting people to what matters most, and that is to each other. Our connections are easy, accessible and affordable.”

"Stronger connected" is quirky enough that it has us talking; but not compelling enough to make me feel positive about the brand. In CenturyLink's 2009 Annual Report, page one says "Stronger Connected," page two is headed "Stronger," and page three is headed "Connected." (Pages four through twelve cover all of the other typical "annual report" stuff.)

Something tells me that "Stronger Connected" is one merger CenturyLink could have done without.

Wordless Wednesday

The Big Green Pen sincerely hopes each and every familie feels welcomed!

(As a proud Florida State University graduate, I bleed garnet and gold,

but this makes me see red!)

The rest of the story ..... as of 7/31/10.
I had a cordial exchange with Guy Moore, who owns Garnet and Gold (and who is a former English major)!  He was a great sport about having this little "familys" issue front and center on my Wordless Wednesday.  At Florida State, we may not always get it right the first time, but we do know how to fix our mistakes.  Here's to you, Garnet and Gold:

pk

Wordless Wednesday

We have gotten increasingly accustomed to knowing how long we are going to have to wait for things. 

Call customer service, and you'll know there are four people ahead of you with a wait time of approximately 3 minutes.

Get in line at Space Mountain, and anticipate a wait time of 20 minutes from "this point in line." 

Order "The Girl Who Played with Fire" from amazon.com, and receive several emails predicting when your book will arrive.

That's why I was surprised (and amused) when, upon powering up my office copier Sunday, it told me this:

Our copier is a realist with good grammar (it's really easy to confuse "a while" and "awhile")!

Honesty and good grammar:  two things that are difficult to duplicate.

Wordless Wednesday

Things that make @biggreenpen dissolve in purple puddles.

You all know I rail against typos and spelling errors, but sometimes it just doesn't matter.  At the Leon County Relay for Life this weekend, the sign below was propped up against the luminaria bags honoring "Little Mamma Harris." 

Angle, Angel, Anelg, Anleg........I could care less. 

(And given the illustration, maybe somehow the illustrators actually meant those geometric things.)

She was loved.

When the going gets though, the though get going.

Some people sing with the voices of angels.  Some people run long distances quickly.  Some people coach athletic teams to win, season after season.  Me, I see typos.  As several of my previous Wordless Wednesday posts attest, many letters are being written on objects that do not move while perfectly good letter-writing paper goes unused.  Thank goodness Mrs. Bowen, my sixth grade teacher, gave us students the hint that "stationary" has an "a" in its last three letters to remind us of an "anchor," something that remains still.  "Stationery," on the other hand, is used for writing letters. 

My nickname at Healthy Kids has been "The Big Green Pen" for many years now.  Because I use a green felt-tip pen when I edit letters, and because I am, to put it mildly, generous with the green ink, the nickname is permanent and has become my identity on Twitter (@biggreenpen) and among my proofreading/copyediting clients. 

There are a few of us at the office who enjoy language, and appreciate language used with precision and care.  Therefore, when I see something egregious (like the recent "Flordia"), I send out a quick email with a "Big Green Pen Challenge."  When my coworker, Niki Pocock, participated in the most recent "Big Green Pen Challenge," she included in her response a link to a blog by Bob Gabordi, Executive Editor of the Tallahassee Democrat, in which  Bob discusses why answering his phone is always an adventure.  As part of his blog, when he refers to a caller who questioned whether the Democrat still utilizes proofreaders, he wrote:

Losing those people huddled in the back proofreading pages was part of the price we paid for technology. These days, newspaper pages go straight from the newsroom’s computers to metal plates that go on the press. Fewer eyes are looking for typos and minor grammar flaws.

Between my initial reading (on Friday) of Bob's blog and logging on to http://www.tallahassee.com/ this morning, two typos jumped off the page (first case) and screen (second case).  It was time to e-mail Bob.

In my e-mail, I expressed my hope that there can be some happy medium between those non-existent "back of the room" proofreaders and "a journalistic organization resigning itself to an attitude of "we'll catch what we can, but errors happen." 

I pointed out the on-line lead for the well-done "print exclusive" article about the fiscal difficulties faced by the LeMoyne Center for the Visual Arts.  The text stated:

The recession has been particularly though on the

LeMoyne Center for the Visual Arts, a Tallahassee

nonprofit that's been around for 47 years.

I also pointed out that the header to a very informative article in yesterday's Democrat, which described how to prepare for the sport of triathlon, was titled this way:

Break in new gear as part of pre-race preperation. 

Arguably, neither of these errors did any damage.  The recession is still hitting Lemoyne; athletes still need to break in their gear to get ready for triathlons. 

I once proofread a friend's resume.  I'm pretty sure the friend's career might have gone a whole different direction if the friend's original representation of her "Master's in Public Administration" had not had its "L" in "Public" replaced before distribution. 

For examples of typos that have done more than annoy, visit Eye for Ink's Typo of the Month page.  You can even subscribe to receive a new "particularly embarrassing or expensive" typo every month (if you can stand it!). 

When my new smartphone started anticipating my words for me, so that, for example, I could start typing "let's get lu...." and the phone would pop up with the options of "lunch" or "lucky," I started tuning in to the types of technology that have become an expectation of my 10- and 13- year old children.  There is very little thinking involved; your message can be composed and sent in a flash. 

But getting "lunch" and getting "lucky" are different.  I imagine there are many people out there I might want to have lunch with, but only one I plan to get lucky with!

In the final paragraph of my email to Bob, I said, "However, if we parents do manage to get our kids to read the newspaper (one can always hope) or if a teacher requires students to read an article in the newspaper for a class-related assignment, I think it is important that the writers/publishers have made every effort to show that they care about the "small considerations" of spelling and grammar in addition to the "big considerations" of what they have to say."

Bob responded within two hours of my original e-mail.  His response e-mail, in which he assured me that typos "drive me utterly insane" (yay! a kindred spirit), he also pointed out that the "online editing process is different ... than the print process."  He discussed the "nature of writing and editing so quickly for the 24-7 news cycle" and commented that, "such errors have always been a problem for newspapers."  Bob said that, "Newspapers have long been called the first draft of history ....... Now, with the Web, perhaps print is the second draft.  But in either case, we have never faced more intense deadline pressure than now and I would not be surprised if our typo-error rate is not higher than in previous generations." 

In closing, Bob wrote, "there is anything but a casual attitude or reaction to such errors in our newsroom.  If I gave that impression, it is a false one." 

I really appreciate the e-mail exchange I shared with Bob, and the articulate, explanatory nature of his response.

Writing, proofreading, and editing have always been a big part of my life.  Sometimes it has been professionally compensated; other times it has been on behalf of a cause that I love.  When I left the Holy Comforter book club tonight, thinking about next month's book, Half the Sky, it occurred to me that quibbling over "it's/its, heel/heal, peek/peak, and other grammatical no-no's," while important to preserving the integrity of the written word, is a true luxury compared to the life and death struggles the women featured in the book face from the moment they are born. 

To tell the story of the women featured in "Half the Sky," though, and other stories meant to inform, convince, and reassure, requires attention to language and detail.  It is that attention to detail and drive to be accurate that I seek to keep alive by protecting the way in which language is used. 

Maybe I'll "get lucky" and this blog won't have any errors.  Anyone want to "get lunch" and calmly discuss?

Wordless Wednesday

@biggreenpen is seeing RED again:

True, it's "citizen journalism," but it's still important to know your correspondence materials apart from your objects that stay in one place!

And, since it's more important to respect the lives lost during the Nashville flooding than it is to quibble about spelling, I won't make you all guess about what the error is (like I usually do).  Here's a picture of the shop referenced in the article, as the flood waters encroach:

Here are a couple of ways to help Nashvillians cope with this disaster:

Text REDCROSS to "90999" to give $10

Visit the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to donate or get information

You can remain stationary on your couch and drop friends a note on stationery letting them know you helped!

Wordless Wednesday

More things that make @biggreenpen see RED: