If you have any hipster sensibilities, you may be familiar with New York-based rock band Vampire Weekend and one of its most widely known hits: “Oxford Comma.” The very NSFW lyrics, from which I pulled the title of this post, don’t actually take a side in the classic grammatical debate of “to serial comma or not to serial comma?” However, it’s definitely a catchy tune. Though it may reveal the band’s decidedly ambivalent stance on the Oxford comma question, the song also serves as evidence of this debate’s pervasiveness. Who ever thought a grammar question would become part of American pop culture?

Read More

Can any business really exist without an online presence? This slightly existentialist question is really one of practicality rather than philosophy:

• 89 percent of consumers use search engines to learn more about businesses and the products or services they offer before making a purchase
• 71 percent of purchase decisions start out with an online search
• There are 100 billion searches conducted on Google every month

Read More

The Language Ninja is back, happily answering grammar-related questions that she has mostly not invented.

1. Question: Is there a significant difference between the phrases: “I could care less” and “I couldn’t care less?”

Answer: Although, lamentably, these two phrases are used interchangeably, yes — there is actually a huge difference. You see, I couldn’t care less means — literally — that the person uttering the phrase is physically, mentally and spiritually devoid of concern regarding the topic to which he or she is referring. If you couldn’t care about something to any lesser degree, then you are totally absent care. However, if you could care less, then you actually do care — albeit just a smidge. Whether the person using the expression realizes it or not, he or she is really communicating the opposite of what is intended: that there is an element of care left within his or her soul.

Read More

Can SEO “stick it to the man?” Google’s betting on it with its latest search algorithm update that rewards secure sites with more ranking points. The move is meant to encourage site owners to update their domains with secure connections (adding the “s” in “https”), and the reason given behind this move is that Google’s tech gurus just want the Web to be more secure. After all, it’s commonplace to read about a data breech these days, with one of the latest citing around 1.2 billion accounts hacked by a Russian criminal group. More security around the net will mean safer browsing, and safer browsing means more confident Internet users who are less cautious about divulging their personal data, be it financial, medical or something else.

Read More

In the wonderfully wacky world of online content and blogs, there are an array of competing opinions and disparate styles. What often lacks in the majority of business blogs is a unique “voice,” that essential yet somewhat misunderstood aspect of writing that makes it sound different from everything else. Developing a unique voice for your company’s online content is a sure-fire way to set your business apart from the competition and give readers (potential customers!) a little taste of what you’re really all about.

Read More

As a professional writer of web content, I am constantly fielding queries about what is and isn’t appropriate in terms of written communications and language use. Here are my responses to three of the most oft-repeated questions, one of which I didn’t just make up.

Question: R txt msg abbs apropri8 4 wrk? (Are text message abbreviations appropriate for work?)

Answer: It would certainly depend on your individual work environment.  If you work for a narcotics trafficking organization, then yes, they’re perfectly fine.  If you work anywhere else, then no.

Question:  Is there a real difference between: they’re, their and there?  Most of my reading is in Tweet form, where they are used interchangeably.

Answer:  Excellent question.  Yes, there is a significant difference.  They’re, their and there are what are known as homophones.  Homophones are words that are pronounced similarly (or even identically) when spoken, but might have wildly different meanings and uses, and are often (but not always) spelled differently.  While this is a natural occurrence in the evolution of language, it nonetheless is the source of many hilarious misunderstandings involving the term “seaman.”

Read More

Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know that good jobs are hard to find and the competition is stiffer than ever. However, to say that the methods used by companies and potential employees to find one another have changed a tad in the last ten years or so would be a gross understatement. The birth and evolution of social media have shattered the antiquated process of carefully crafting a résumé on a typewriter (with a bottle of Liquid Paper in hand, of course) and then pounding the pavement to hand-deliver it to as many companies as possible. With all facets of the job/employee hunt shifting to the interwebs, does the old-school, paper résumé still hold any relevance in today’s world?

Read More

That’s it, folks. Germany took the Cup. Sorry to spoil it for anyone who didn’t follow the 2014 FIFA World Cup and somehow missed every news outlet on the Interwebs.

So now what? We all pack up and go home, right? That’s certainly what most of the estimated 3.7 million World Cup tourists who invaded Brazil for four weeks are doing, and they’re likely happy about it. Custo Brazil has led to, I’m sure, more than one tourist’s rainy day fund getting completely drained.

Read More

Phew. It feels good to get that off my chest.

I feel I’m bit of a fraud. I’m a writer and a wordsmith; I was raised to love words and the complex emotions, ideas, and concepts that they can convey. And yet, I believe I am an active participant in a trend that is contributing to the destruction of not just the English language, but written language in general. What is this scourge in which I am a willing (if guilty) participant? It’s the cutest scourge EVAR! Emojis.

Read More

Under normal circumstances, bounciness is a good thing. I mean, obviously no one wants a basketball that doesn’t bounce, and a non-bouncy inflatable jumping castle is just lame. One place you don’t want bouncing, though, is your website. A site’s bounce rate—that is, the percentage of visitors who pop over to your site and right back out again without exploring past the landing page– directly impacts your search engine rankings. Luckily, there are a few tricks you can use to reduce your bounce rate… and one of them is high-quality writing.

Read More