Strengthening Your Command of the Language: New Edition of “Words of the Month”

Have you checked out the latest edition (July/August 2018) of “Words of the Month,” my free vocabulary enrichment feature, which has been online since August 9? Here are the six featured words, all of which lie within the conversational vocabulary of America’s most articulate (as is the case with all of the words featured in my book, “The Articulate Professional-3^rd Edition”):

1. apotheosis

2. feckless

3. serendipitous

4. affront

5. irascible

6. impudent

 

This Case is "a Live Torpedo in the Water”; “A Calling Card for Pigeons”—Use of Visual, Evocative Expression to Emphasize One’s Point

Being rewritten. Will be posted by Saturday, September 22. I apologize for the delay.

Strengthen Your Command of the Language: New Edition of “Words of the Month”

Have you checked out the latest edition (May/June 2018) of “Words of the Month,” my free vocabulary enrichment feature, which has been online for about ten days? Here are the six featured words, all of which lie within the conversational vocabulary of America’s most articulate (as is the case with all of the words featured in my book, “The Articulate Professional-3^rd Edition”):

1. bilious

2. doleful

3. prostitute (as verb)

4. bonhomie

5. cabal

6. alacrity

 

In Shakespeare, “Anywhere You Dig, You Actually Get to Some Kind of Deep Groundwater!”—Use of Visual, Evocative Expression to Emphasize One’s Point

Here’s a recent example of a highly effective communicator using a vivid, evocative expression while emphasizing something and thus making his assertion indelible—an example which, I hope, will inspire the rest of us into similarly imaginative analogies, especially when we are trying to break through the clutter.

• In his new book “Tyrant—Shakespeare on Power,” renowned Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt explores The Bard’s relevance to the current political goings-on. Elaborating on the central theme of that publication during a “BBC World News America” interview, Greenblatt suggested: “In difficult times, it helps you to take a deep breath and look at things from an oblique angle because Shakespeare is arguably the greatest, deepest, profoundest thinker of human life.”  He then added: “One of the marvelous things about Shakespeare is anywhere you dig, you actually get to some kind of deep groundwater.”

Of special interest to students and teachers of Shakespeare:
On being asked which play of Shakespeare best mirrors our world, Greenblatt replied: “There are several, (most notably) Richard III; Henry VI, Part 2; ...”

© Copyright 2018  V. J. Singal

The President Avoided a Difficult Vote in Congress by “Enacting a Cirque du Soleil Way of Getting Around It”—Use of Visual, Evocative Expression to Emphasize One’s Point

Here’s a recent example of a highly effective communicator using a vivid, evocative expression while emphasizing something and thus making his assertion indelible—an example which, I hope, will inspire the rest of us into similarly imaginative analogies, especially when we are trying to break through the clutter.

• Discussing his new book “Our Damaged Democracy: We the People Must Act” on “Face the Nation” this past February, Joseph Califano, who was a “crucial advisor” to President Johnson and a cabinet secretary under President Carter, lamented the fact that, over the past 50 years, successive presidents had become increasingly powerful by usurping the powers of Congress. Citing the Obama administration's nuclear deal with Iran as a recent example, Califano pointed out that Obama and the Democrats were able to avoid a problematic vote in Congress (problematic because of the “Jewish vote” and “Jewish money”) by “enacting a really, you know, the Cirque du Soleil way of getting around it.”

© Copyright 2018  V. J. Singal