Entries by Matt Wright

Grammar: All about (N)

Grammar (N)Grammar: Which word to use (N)

https://www.theguardian.com/guardian- observer-style-guide-n

1.CORRECT USAGE

1.1. Similar words mean different things…

naught or nought?

naught nothing; nought the figure 0

negligent or negligible?

negligent careless; negligible slight

1.2 Use the right word in context…

narrowboat

the popular type of British canal boat, 7ft wide and up to 70ft long – do not call it a barge.

nearby

one word, whether adjective or adverb: “the nearby pub; the pub nearby”.

Nissan

Nissan cars; Nissen hut.

noisome

nothing to do with noise, it means offensive or evil-smelling. read more

June 15, 2018 /0 Comments/by

BLT(*) topic: How important is it for you to have fun within your business?

1. Define “fun” in a work context?

Quotes from around the table:

Anywhere I can wear jeans to work…

I’ve worked with undertakers before…they need to have fun at work, otherwise the job can easily overwhelm them…they have an extremely dark sense of humour!

For certain industries, work has to be fun by nature to permit creativity.

Software developers used to be allowed 20% free ‘fun’ space for messing around on new projects and blue sky thinking. read more

June 8, 2018 /0 Comments/by
,

LIWF: Wine Sales Psychology – Number anchoring and the Von Resthorff effect

Last week’s London International Wine Fair ‘LIWF’ had some fascinating seminars as well as beautiful wines. 

This is a summary of a section of a panel debate on wine sales psychology: How to drive people to buy more wine?

1. We anchor to known numbers

This might sound surprising: if your birthday falls at the end of the month, say the 22nd, you will tend to be anchored to the number 22…without ever consciously being aware of it.

In which case, for purchasing decisions, you will use 22 as a starting point and work down from there.

If however, your birthday happens to be on, say,  the 3rd, that will become your anchor, and you will work up from there; say to £5 for a bottle of wine!

Hence, given that way that birthdays are distributed, there is a tendency to anchor to the most expensive item on the menu. read more read more

June 2, 2018 /0 Comments/by

Grammar: All about (M)

Grammar (M)Grammar: Which word to use (M)

https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-m

1.CORRECT USAGE

1.1. Similar words mean different things…

masterful or masterly?

masterful wilful or domineering; masterly means highly competent: “He gave a masterly demonstration of good grammar.”

margarita or margherita?

margarita cocktail; margherita pizza.

may or might?

may implies that a possibility remains open; might suggests that the possibility remains open no longer:

  • “They may have played tennis, or they may have gone boating” suggests you don’t know what they did [may = possibility].
  • “They might have played tennis if the weather had been dry” means they didn’t, because it wasn’t [might = not a possibility any longer].

militate or mitigate?

To militate against something is to influence it “his record militated against his early release”; to mitigate means to lessen an offence “in mitigation, her counsel argued that she came from a broken home.” read more read more

May 31, 2018 /1 Comment/by

Grammar: All about (L)

(L)Grammar: Which word to use (L)

https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-l

1.CORRECT USAGE

1.1. Similar words mean different things…

laager or lager?

laager South African encampment; lager beer.

last or past?

often interchangeable; eg in such phrases as “six times in the last week”, “twice in the past year”.

But note the difference between most recent (last) and ever (past):

  • “United have beaten Wednesday five times in their last six meetings” (suggesting the six most recent meetings).
  • “United have beaten Wednesday five times in their past six meetings” (suggesting they have only ever played each other six times).

leach or leech?

leach (verb): percolate, remove with a percolating liquid.

leech (noun): a bloodsucking worm, or used figuratively to describe, say, bankers. read more

May 15, 2018 /0 Comments/by

Grammar: All about (K)

Grammar (K)Grammar: Which word to use (K)

https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-k

1.CORRECT USAGE

1.1. Similar words mean different things…

knell or knoll?

A knell is the sound of a bell, hence “death knell”. A bell can be knelled, as well as tolled. A knoll is a small hill, not necessarily grassy.

1.2 Use the right word in context…

knots

measure of nautical miles per hour; do not say knots per hour

2.SPELLINGS

2.1 To hyphenate (or not)?

YES

knife-edge

EXCEPTIONS

kick-off (noun) BUT kick off (verb)

kiss’n’tell

2.2 One word or two?

One word

keyring

keyword

kneejerk

knockout

knowhow

kowtow

Two words

kung fu

2.3 Frequently misspelt

knowledgable

2.4 Change with form or plural

2.5 Take note of capitals

[ic = initial capitals | lc = lowercase]

ic

King’s Cross, London BUT Kings Cross, Sydney (no comma) read more

April 30, 2018 /0 Comments/by
,

GDPR – What should small businesses actually lay awake worrying about?

I won’t bore you with the usual General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)lecture; you’ve probably heard that presentation at least a dozen times by now, complete with its tales of draconian fines,  devious small print and costly compliance.

Hence, such presentations tend to be ‘top-down’, applying GDPR rules to large companies and multinationals, rather than ‘bottom-up’, looking at the issues from the viewpoint of sole traders and SMEs.

At Thursday’s BLT meeting, David Banes of Cleartext Systems presented part of his practical GDPR Awareness Course.

What follows is my summary/interpretation of David’s presentation.

3 things every small business owner should do ahead of 26-May

Forget the 6 GDPR principles…well, don’t forget them, but let’s concentrate instead on the minimum that an SME should be doing ahead of 26-May.

1. Register under the Data Protection Act

“The Data Protection Act 1998 requires every data controller (e.g. organisation, sole trader) who is processing personal information to register with the ICO, unless they are exempt.” read more read more

April 27, 2018 /0 Comments/by