“Un-Amazonable” – A New, Instantly Understood, and Easy-to-use Word that has Just Entered Our Lexicon and is Evocative!

It was only a few weeks ago when I came across the word “un-Amazonable” in the media for the first time. Not only did the term make instant sense and catch my attention, it also made me wonder “Why didn’t I think of this simple and evocative word which lends itself to ready application (such as when talking about marketing strategy and tactics for a retailer of consumer products)?”

[To elaborate, it was a reporter on American Public Media’s “Marketplace” who used this word while discussing a highly successful bricks-and-mortar retailer of beauty products. And the reporter’s point in using unamazonable? That the sum total of those beauty products’ intrinsic characteristics plus the services and customer buying experience at the physical stores have made that retail chain’s market share immune to erosion or threats from Amazon.com and other online entities.]

And thus was born an all-new category of future blog posts, one that will feature words that are “new” (at least new to me) but not of such high caliber and multiple senses as to merit inclusion in my regular editions of “Words of the Month,” wherein I design at least half-a-dozen examples for each profiled word. Specifically, words featured under this new label (i.e., “new word just entering our lexicon”) will have to satisfy one or more of the following criteria: 

1. Newly entering our lexicon.
2. Easily understandable.
3. Lends itself to even informal conversations, such as those around the office Keurig machine.
4. Helps make one’s point indelible, succinct, etc. because of, say, the images it conjures up.
5. If not outright new, it is “re-entering” conversational English, i.e., some event or occurrence has made it freshly “airborne,” as happened to the word braggadocio after Carly Fiorina used it in a Republican debate last year. [See main example at http://www.verbalenergy.com/to_print/2016_05-06/braggadocio.html] 

 

An exhortation to you, the reader: Because unamazonable is so easy to use and its sense so obvious and compelling, I expect it to become a fairly common or quotidian term within just a year or two. So, start employing it right away, before it becomes a cliché.  

© Copyright 2016  V. J. Singal

 

The word “Automaticity” — Its Utterance by Guest on Yesterday’s “Morning Edition” Earns Special Mention by Program Host Steve Inskeep

Did you listen to NPR “Morning Edition” yesterday (Friday, April 3)? One of the segments featured Tony Blinken (Deputy Secretary of State, hence a top official in the State Dept.) who highlighted some of the critical aspects of the nuke accord that had been reached with Iran just a few hours earlier. 

In response to host Steve Inskeep’s question “If Iran violates the deal…would the sanctions automatically snap back,” Mr. Blinken said, “Yes, there is going to be automaticity in the so-called snapback…if Iran reneges on its commitments.”  

 

Well, use of the uncommon word automaticity (pronounced aw-tuh-muh-TIS-ih-tee) raised the eyebrows of not only yours truly (and, presumably, of at least tens of thousands of other listeners) but also of host Steve Inskeep who, at the end of the interview some 20 seconds later, commented “OK, Tony Blinken is Deputy Secretary of State and I think the first person ever to use the word automaticity on Morning Edition. Mr. Blinken, thanks very much...” [Click here for the transcript.] 

Some of the ways in which a single word can greatly impact a discussion or make one's point indelible: People with a strong command of the language and who speak with confidence will, often a time, really push the envelope in their choice of words, especially when they are trying to galvanize their audience. (This is a central aspect of my popular keynote "The Power of the Spoken Word.") Here are three quick examples of how a single word can help make one's point indelible, if not airborne:

1. Using an ordinary word in a most extraordinary and imaginative way. (For instance, my post of Jan 16, 2013, which is about famous Spanish painter Joan Miro proclaiming that he is going to “assassinate painting.”) 
2. Using an uncommon and high-caliber word but one that is sure to be understood by the audience because of the context or use of synonyms. (In the case of Tony Blinken’s utterance, it is obvious to listeners that automaticity is the noun from the word automatic which had been used by Inskeep just seconds earlier). And this is exactly what my book is about. Just click here and look at the "Workplace Examples" on the sample pages.
3. Creating a word, often on the spot, that is (i) going to be readily understood by the audience, and (ii) likely to stir them, even fire their imagination. This immediately brings to mind a spectacular moment in a Sunday morning talk show during the 2012 presidential-debate-season when a guest used an extremely fresh and stirring adjective derived from the name of a famous movie character. It sure left the audience spellbound, so much so that the host interrupted the guest to comment on that particular word! Will feature that video clip in an upcoming post. Stay tuned!

Of course, these three examples are by no means a comprehensive list of how a single word can make a point indelible.

 

© Copyright 2015  V. J. Singal

A Single Word That Can Markedly Impact a Discussion; Paraphrasing Joan Miro’s famous utterance “I Want To Assassinate Painting”

First, a Very Happy New Year to my readers.

Second, greatly inspired by the Spanish painter Joan Miro’s famous proclamation in 1927 that he was going to “assassinate painting,” (something I learned about only a couple of months ago, while watching a previously recorded CBS “Sunday Morning” segment presented by Rita Braver), I am today launching a new series of posts featuring single words or phrases that can help inject force or vigor into your important statements or arguments during a meeting.

Now, note that in uttering the above statement, Miro meant that he wanted to radically change art and go about it in a militant manner. So, the moment I heard this highly unconventional usage of the verb assassinate, i.e., assassinating a thing instead of a person, it occurred to me that this common word lent itself to forceful speaking during meetings because of its evocativeness and inherent power.

An example of how you could use it: Supposing you are a marketing exec or manager and determined to make wholesale changes in the (dumb?) current strategy / merchandising methods that were implemented before you came on the scene. Well, you could begin your announcement with a smile, saying “To paraphrase the great Spanish painter Joan Miro [pronounced zhoo-AHN mee-ROH], we need to assassinate the current strategy” (or “assassinate the way our products are being merchandised….”).

Indeed, in the six to eight weeks since watching that CBS segment, I have excitedly suggested this usage of assassinate to several of my clients and audiences, and the idea has resonated wildly. Many have reported back triumphantly, saying that they’ve employed it to good effect… that the term has turned heads and been subsequently mouthed by other meeting participants.

Example of its use by an executive at Subsea 7: Here is how this powerful action word was used by one of my clients, Jeremiah Gilbreath--General Manager of Subsea 7’s i-Tech unit, who is constantly trying out fresh verbal expression to make his points penetrating (and also keep the discussion lively when things are getting soporific or droopy)--during a recent meeting to vehemently decry a current practice or mentality and urge change: “We need to assassinate (pregnant pause) the temptation (or assassinate the knee-jerk response) of leaving it to the project managers to sort out...”

Note Jeremiah’s laudable use of the pregnant pause to give emphasis to the word assassinate, thus ensuring that it did not escape anyone’s attention.

 

© Copyright 2013  V. J. Singal