Archive for March, 2007

Ridiculous releases and stern words

March 30, 2007
By alan
Ridiculous releases and stern words

Meredith Burgmann was, until recently, the president of the NSW Legislative Council. She recently retired. Meredith Burgmann, collector of political idiocy While in her position, she enjoyed a sideline hobby collecting the headlines from politicians’ press releases. It turns out to have been a highly entertaining hobby and she sent a list of her...
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Posted in Amusing, Politics | No Comments »

Is your fantasy epic derivative trash?

March 30, 2007
By alan

I don’t tend to write too much in the medieval fantasy, cavorting elves and grumbling dwarves vein of fantasy. Nonetheless, this list from rinkworks.com cracked me up. In particular, I enjoyed no. 33. Click here for the Fantasy Novelist’s Exam.
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Posted in Writing | No Comments »

Strange annotations II

March 27, 2007
By alan

I thought I’d figured out what was causing all those strange !–– and !–– codes that pop up in Internet Explorer. Alas, I haven’t fixed it. I have no idea why it’s happening and will continue to try to find out what’s going on. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know...
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Reading recommendations

March 27, 2007
By alan

A reader directed me to check out a beta version of a new website called Story Code. It’s a site to compare novels, where readers enter details of books they’ve enjoyed by way of a coding system. That system then draws comparisons to other books in the site’s database and offers further reading recommendations...
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Posted in Websites, Writing | No Comments »

Mean car park

March 27, 2007
By alan
Mean car park

A reader of The Word from Wellington in New Zealand sent me this picture that he thought I’d like. He was right – I do like it. It’s such a mean sign. This is a car park and it’s for the public. But it’s closed. Permanently! Mwaaahahaha! Why don’t they just put up a...
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Posted in Signs | No Comments »

The prevalence of the McWord

March 22, 2007
By alan
The prevalence of the McWord

We’ve all heard one variety or another. When the great anti-nutrition factory, McDonald’s, began naming lots of its products with a Mc prefix, the floodgates were opened. There’s a McMuffin, a McFeast, even a McCafe for lovers of truly awful coffee. Here in Australia we have a McOz burger. The Mc’s are regional. McHurl...
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Posted in Marketing, Powerful Words | No Comments »

Coca no more

March 19, 2007
By alan
Coca no more

Bolivian coca farmers are trying to pressure one of the world’s largest companies to abandon one of the world’s most recognisable brands. Bolivia is rewriting its constitution and wants to re-establish the standing of the humble coca leaf to its religious and cultural importance once more. The move could force the Bolivian government into...
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Posted in Marketing, Weird | No Comments »

Strange annotation

March 16, 2007
By alan

It’s been pointed out to me that a number of posts here at The Word are coming out a bit strangely when the site is viewed through Internet Explorer 7. There are occasional !–– type things cropping up. I don’t know why this is and I’m looking into it. However, if you use...
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Posted in News | No Comments »

World changing words in Sydney

March 15, 2007
By alan
World changing words in Sydney

Every once in a while a book comes along that really changes the world. I’m not talking about publishing phenomenons like the Harry Potter books or John Grisham’s superselling novels. I’m talking about a book that stops the world in its tracks and makes everyone perform an intellectual backflip. Not a world changing book...
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Posted in Books, Powerful Words, Writing | No Comments »

The Lady Mondegreen

March 13, 2007
By alan

An ongoing series of letters in the Sydney Morning Herald recently has been discussing the strange words people think they hear in verse and songs. It all started with one person asking what ‘gibbous’ meant, in reference to a gibbous moon. (To put that to rest early, gibbous refers to the moon when it...
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Posted in Amusing, Writing | No Comments »

The Word

Words and stories fascinate me. Our world is built on language and storytelling. Without stories, we are nothing.



This is The Word - a place to learn more about me, my stories and the words of others. Click the links along the top for all kinds of stuff, search the sidebars for loads of other stuff, click on book covers for reviews and previews, enjoy the blog and don't be shy to share your words, in comments or send me an email to alan [at]alanbaxteronline[dot]com

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