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May 25, 2021May 26, 2021

Want to avoid redundancies and cliches? This month’s “Tell Your Story Newsletter” tells you how . . .

May 2021 Vol 3 Issue 5

Tell Your Story Newsletter (TYSN):

Specializing in Entrepreneurial and Organizational Storytelling

Let me tell your story!

Welcome Mid-May, 2021!

Until very recently, we have had a late spring on the Prairies, with cold mornings and very few days reaching 20 degrees, Celsius. And yet, last week brought more lasting warmth and record breaking heat is forecasted for today!

Have you noticed trees, bushes and lawns “greening up?” I’ve met some of you drinking in the plants, trees and bushes at our local garden centres.

The lengthening of our daylight hours makes life feel easier, despite our pandemic fatigue.

My writer-friend Julie Barnes enjoys this good weather, by punctuating her work with short breaks to weed a flower bed or a vegetable patch. I’ve been walking in my neighbourhood, to witness the wonder of spring.

In “Article One” of this month’s issue, I present redundancies and cliches to avoid in copywriting (and in fact all kinds of writing), as chronicled by writers of the online network, “ProWritingAid.”

And in “Storytellers’ Corner,” I visit the concept of “defamiliarization” of English idioms, from theorists and philosophers who first identified it, in the 1950s.

These articles offer a small taste of how complex our use of language truly is, and remind us to be conscious of its ethics and politics. Power inheres in our linguistic practices.

But, as ladybugs and bees fly by my laptop and I find myself reading by daylight until 9:00 pm, I am conscious, too, of the miracle of our spring!

I hope it also brings you joy, good readers.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

Principal

Storytelling Communications

www.elizabethshih.com

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IN THIS ISSUE:

ARTICLE 1: Tips on avoiding redundancies and cliches, from “ProWritingAid”

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER:

On idioms and “defamiliarization”

SHOP NEWS

ABOUT US

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Article One: Tips on avoiding redundancies and cliches from “ProWritingAid”

The British-based, online writers’ network, ProWritingAid, offers many resources for writers of all genres, including copywriters.

This month, I’m sharing some of the sometimes laughable pointers from the network’s ebook, “Business Writing Hacks for Flawless Communications,” by staff writers, Kathy Edens and Lisa Lepki.

Edens and Lepki present (1) common redundancies to delete and (2) common cliches, or “corporate speak,” that we would all do well to avoid in business communication (and in any form of communication).

Many of their pointers are witty and insightful and may tickle your funny bone, as well as alert your mind!

(1) On redundancies to avoid:

Edens and Lepki write that one way “to declutter your writing . . . is to eliminate the common redundancies rampant in business writing today. You want to remove . . . double expressions that add nothing to your meaning.”

They stress that not all repetition is bad: “You should still repeat key phrases” for emphasis, clarification and therefore, coherence.

But redundancies must go. Your copy will be stronger for it!

From their alphabetized catalog, here are some of the “worst offenders” (along with an explanation of why they’re redundant–which may amuse you):

“Absolutely essential” (if something is essential, it can’t be less than absolute).
“Advance planning” (Planning is always done in advance).
“Basic fundamentals” (Fundamentals mean the basic components).
“Brief summary” (A summary is a brief description of something).
“Component parts” (Components are parts).
“Current trend” (A trend is something happening currently).
“Desirable benefits” (Benefits are by nature desirable).
“End result” (Results always come at the end).
“First conceived” (Conceived means something started at the beginning or first).
“Foreign imports” (To import something is to bring it from a foreign country).
“Free gift” (All gifts are free).
“Future plans” (Plans always concern future occurrences).
“Harmful injury” (Injury means harm has already occurred).
“Integrate together” (Integrate means to bring together).
“Joint collaboration” (To collaborate means to work together or jointly).
“Knowledgeable experts” (Experts are by definition knowledgeable).
“Later time” (Later already indicates a place in time).
“Major breakthrough” (All breakthroughs are major).
“Meet together/meet with each other” (To meet means getting together with someone/each other).
“Mutual cooperation” (Cooperation is always mutual.)
“New construction” (Construction means to build something new).
“New innovation/new invention” (To innovate/invent is to create something new).
“Outside of . . . ” (Outside means being on the other side of something).
“Past experience” (All experiences are in the past).
“Postpone until later” (Postponing means putting something off until later).
“Proposed plan” (A plan is something you propose to do).
“Reply back” (To reply means to get back to someone).
“Scrutinize in detail” (Scrutinizing means looking at something in detail).
“Still persists/ remains” (To persist or remain means you’re still doing something).
“Time period” (Time indicates a specific period).
“Unexpected emergency” (All emergencies are unexpected).
“Usual custom” (A custom is usual or customary).
“Very unique” (Unique is always one-of-a-kind).

(2) On business cliches (“corporate speak”) to avoid:

Edens and Lepki cite an article in “Inc. Magazine” as a source on how “corporate speak makes your organization dumber.” Here are some deadbeat expressions to avoid in your writing, even (especially) if everyone around you uses them:

“At the end of the day” (try “what’s crucial is”)
“Start building consensus” (try “persuade others to”)
“Core competency” (try “our advantage”)
“Low-hanging fruit” (try “simple opportunities”)
“Sweet spot” (try “effective qualities”)
“Mission critical” (try “top priority/goal”)
“Leverage synergies” (try “combined effort”)
“Paradigm shift” (try “fundamental change”)
“Break down the silos” (try “collaborate/work together”)
“Run it up the flagpole” (try “test an idea”)
“Limited bandwith” (try “capacity to deal with”)

And now it’s your turn: Do you hear or read these redundancies and cliches in the language with which you work? Whose interests are served by sloppy thought and writing?

Please share your examples or stories about them. I’d be delighted to share them in future issues!

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STORYTELLER’s CORNER . . . .

STORYTELLER’S CORNER: On Idioms and “defamiliarization”: Language matters

Readers new to the English language are often surprised and charmed by phrases in conversation or in artistic work that disrupt how we commonly perceive the world. Words in a text or a film can briefly, for them, seem new and fresh.

Such language has drawn readers’/listeners’ attention to the rhetorical strategies or devices that underpin our idioms.

Many idioms that first struck me in childhood as hilarious (providing examples of what Russian formalist thinkers in the 1950s called “defamiliarization”), now sound mundane to me. They are no longer funny or amusing and instead sound cliche.

In recent years, I’ve noticed that when speaking with others who have not read much English literature, some of these expressions elicit the kind of laughter that I recall from my first childhood encounters the words. This happens because the language is for these users “de-familiarized” (made to seem unfamiliar).

Do these examples also sound passe or cliche to you?

These idioms have made some of my contacts laugh:

You can “nuke your coffee in the microwave.”
Please do not “reinvent the wheel” and call it new research.
S/he is an “evolutionary throwback” to study that topic for so long.
Most hotdogs are “mystery meat.”
S/he was “coughing up a lung” in the doctor’s waiting room.
I had to “get up at the crack of dawn” to make that meeting.
The reviewers found that the leader was “asleep at the switch” . . .

Russian formalists in the 1950s argued that idioms like these sound funny when they disrupt an uninitiated reader’s perception and making of meaning. Common concepts or ideas are presented in “defamiliarized” ways. But once heard, the idioms quickly become familiar and so no longer amuse us.

One critic who wrote at length on “defamiliarization,” Viktor Shklovsky, says that this distinction between artistic and common language exists in all forms of art. He applied the Russian term “ostranenie” to it.

The above examples come from mainstream conversation. But dramatic examples occur in the literature of many countries, from Alexander Pope to Bertolt Brecht. They also permeate a lot of political discourse.

If an artist can “shake up a familiar scene,” as literary theorist Uri Margolin writes, “as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it.”

There are political implications whenever the making of meaning in language is involved, and literary theorists and philosophers have found connections between “defamiliarization” and Freud’s “uncanny,” Brecht’s “estrangement effect” and Derrida’s “differance.” These are all (loosely termed) “postmodern” insights and theories from our last century that hold as much (if not more) value now.

They have altered the way we perceive and express ourselves, our subjectivity and the world we occupy.

Put more simply: language matters!

And now it’s your turn. Have you noticed how familiarity with language can alter the way you perceive it, by you or those you talk to? Please share your examples for a future issue!

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SHOP NEWS:

I’m particularly relieved to have found a happy home for an elderly family member at the end of last month, so that I can finally return to writing and teaching at “Storytelling Communications.”

Special thanks for the supportive cards and notes from family and friends (far and wide) which have brightened challenging times.

And thanks thus far to the staff at Revera seniors’ assisted living in Saskatoon, who cultivate empathy and caring for our seniors without sacrificing professionalism.

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I was delighted to talk about one arm of a large “Ethical Digital” project this month that is being undertaken by tech guru Katrina German and her team, including Kelly Tidalgo.

Using digital tools these days can raise a lot of ethical questions. Haven’t we all worried about that vulnerable teen or that overwhelmed senior, who has fallen prey (respectively) to online bullying or social media scams?

Katrina and her team will enlighten us in future conversations on the ethics of digitization, through their project.

I encourage you to stay tuned for more on their website:

https://www.ethicaldigital.ca/

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In other news, I’m delighted (and proud) to share that my Uncle Harvie Barker (of Penticton, BC) has been awarded the city’s highest Rotary Award, for his 18 years of writing columns in the “Penticton Herald.”

His collections of those columns has spawned dozens of books and raised more than $25K for local service clubs and agencies for the region’s vulnerable population.

Not everyone thinks of writing and publishing as a community service, but Harvie (a retired United Church minister) has lived that mission and inspired many others, along the way.

I remember in adolescence trying to brainstorm “helpful” ideas for my uncle’s sermons when he visited, none of which passed muster (but many of which ended in peals of laughter).

Congratulations, Harvie Barker!

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And, as I review my training materials to teach English as a second language, I am grateful to friend and accomplished teacher (of philosophy, classics and writing), Steve Cavan, who has graciously shared stories and resources with me.

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ABOUT US:

Between 2011 and December 2018, Elizabeth Shih Communications chronicled the stories of B2B marketing and communications on the Prairies and across the country.

Effective January 1, 2019, I rebranded as “Storytelling Communications.” I now write marketing and communications documents and lead workshops that help small- and medium-sized businesses and and newcomers to Canada to close more sales or secure better jobs.

Interested in learning more? Please contact me through my CASL-compliant website (www.elizabethshih.com ).

After I receive your message, I’ll be pleased to discuss projects with you!

Please visit my website for more information (www.storytellingcommunications.ca).

May 18, 2021May 18, 2021

Revisiting self-compassion as an antidote to suffering (with Kristin Neff and Christina Chwyl)

(A posting on entrepreneurial well-being, first published on January 4, 2018)

Entrepreneurs tend to deal with the greatest heights and depths of emotional experience—dizzying elation when a contract succeeds and equally deep depression when it does not.

Throughout the past Christmas holiday season, I first read about meditation, mindfulness and suffering—concepts that affect our minds and the creative work that we as entrepreneurs do. As that year recently ended and a new one was ushered in, I noticed my mental temptation to ruminate—what the Concise Oxford English Dictionary refers to as the process of “thinking deeply about something.”

But in a context of meditation and mindfulness, “rumination” takes on a more troubling meaning, such as nursing obsessive worries and getting lost in depressive and anxious thoughts that greatly undermine one’s contentment or peace. Rumination can cause terrible emotional (and then creative) blocks, as we set forth to launch new services, or when we start new projects or conclude old ones. Can you think of times when you faced these kinds of emotional blocks and how much you suffered from them?

In her pioneering 2011 study, Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself, American psychologist Kristin Neff says that suffering occurs when reality does not match what we want. Given that such discordance is a common (almost daily) reality, we all suffer to some extent. It is part of being human. Neff cites her Chinese Buddhist mentor, Shinzen Young, however, who asserts that “suffering = pain x resistance.” We all suffer, but we can make our suffering more manageable if we do not resist the pain beneath it. Feel the pain, Neff writes; know what it’s about; and it will dissipate.

“The suffering doesn’t go away,” as local radio host Heather Morrison recently said, in the context of pandemic life. “But you feel better equipped to manage it.”

While contemplating this insight back in 2017, I happened also to read a meditation by the Buddhist monk, Bodhipaksa (over the Wildmind LLC meditation website). He stresses that when we suffer, one way that we resist pain is to ruminate on our circumstances, thinking, for instance, that “‘I’m worried about this, I don’t like that, No one cares about me or considers my feelings,’” and so on. Rumination allows our individual “thinking . . . to amplify our suffering,” Bodhipaksa says.

Instead, if we can find compassion for ourselves (what Neff centres her work on), that self-compassion allows us to see ourselves as part of a greater community of others.

“‘I’ thoughts reinforce our sense of aloneness. We see ourselves as broken, as worse than others and therefore separate from [others],” Bodhipaksa says. By contrast, when we offer ourselves compassion (by a process of meditation or self-talk) we see that our “individual sufferings are . . . . shared by others and [are] part of the difficulties we all have in being human.” “We thinking” connects us to others and enables us to view our individual sufferings as “part of the difficulties we all have in being human” he writes.

Neff’s theories of self-compassion argue that it can be cultivated and consists of “kindness meeting suffering,” that we offer to ourselves, and then can extend to others.

Fourteen months since the Covid-19 pandemic began, do you find yourself ruminating on (not just considering) your life and work?

If we cultivate self-compassion when we feel pain (instead of resisting the pain that only amplifies our suffering), our self-focused rumination will give way to calm, “decreasing our tendency to freak out, and increasing our happiness” (Bodhipaksa).

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In the March 2021 issue of the online magazine, “Psyche,” doctoral student in clinical psychology, Christina Chwyl, took up the topic of self-compassion, arguing that it “is not self-indulgence.”

Most of us are raised to share, cooperate and play fairly. And “yet many of us receive no guidance on how to be a friend to ourselves,” she writes. “We think that compassion for ourselves is counterproductive, self-indulgent, lazy or weak. As though we deal with life’s disappointments,” as Chwyl says, by “sitting on the couch and eat[ing] Ben and Jerry’s all day.”

Self-compassion, on the contrary, “gives us strategies to manage our emotions, such as seeking support from others” instead of blaming ourselves or distracting ourselves from our unaddressed resistance to suffering.

When we practice more self-compassion, we find it easier to improve ourselves by learning from our mistakes. We can admit our mistakes to ourselves without criticizing ourselves punitively for them.

Self-compassion is, Chwyl writes, “a healthy response to suffering.” When we practice it, we are better able to “take personal responsibility for transgressions and persist following obstacles” that otherwise would halt us in our tracks. Entrepreneurial and other failures become opportunities for learning and growth.

And “contrary to assumptions that self-compassion is selfish, self-compassion even helps us to be kinder toward others.” We can become “more resilient versions of ourselves.”

She writes that when our egos whisper to ourselves in self-talk to “achieve more, do better, and you will be worthy,” self-compassion is the reliable, old friend whom we deserve and who says, “I believe in you, I’m here for you, no matter what.”

Do these insights on self-compassion resonate with you? How do you offer yourself compassion, in these late, pandemic days?

May 4, 2021May 11, 2021

The dawn will come: Running a marathon as a metaphor for late pandemic life

More than a year since the Covid-19 pandemic began, folk from all walks of life are feeling exhausted.

In a recent feature for CBC’s “Saskatoon Morning” radio program, producer Heather Morrison likened our discomfort to the mental rigours of marathon running.

When the world first recognized the pandemic in 2020, health officials quickly reminded us that “This is not a sprint; it’s a marathon.” The major difference, Morrison says, is that endurance races are done by choice. We can’t opt-out of Covid-19. However, we can learn from those who have trained their minds and bodies through the periods of deprivation and loss that come with

running marathons.

Morrison grounds her reflection in the reality that she is currently training (for the first time) to do the upcoming Saskatchewan marathon, a full 42.2 kilometre race. Marathons, she observed in her story, are less about training one’s body and more about one’s mind. The kind of mental training athletes undergo is equally needed (by all of us) to cope with late pandemic days.

When we deal with social isolation, she suggests, we need to focus on moving forward, despite not being able to see a “finish line.” When you run, you need to focus on “what you cannot see.”

In knowing that there is a finishing line ahead, we find the motivation to keep moving forward.

Morrison interviewed Terrant Cross Child, a Blackfoot member of the Blood Tribe from Southern Alberta, who regularly runs marathons. When you start, he observes, you can’t see the finish line, but must focus on reaching it. Aimless effort won’t work.

Cross Child says that runners have

to endure both the bad and the good, along with the knowledge that “the prize [of finishing] lies ahead.”

Just as runners’ aid stations offer first aid, water and energy gel to help athletes on their races, Cross Child says that we can cope with isolation by remembering conversations and times shared with loved ones, such as spouses, children and friends.

He and other marathoners, Morrison says, are “models of perseverance.” Their capacity, as Cross Child says, to “keep their eyes on the prize” ultimately overpowers the agonizing wish to quit.

Ultra-marathons, the equivalent of four marathons, can last as long as 22 hours (160 km) and require athletes to run “through the pitch black of night.” Morrison interviewed Stacy Dittmer (of Brandon, MB) who has run many of these and found them doable only “by segmenting the challenge into manageable pieces.”

Dittmer thinks only about the next 40 steps, not the overwhelming hundred kilometres left to go. It’s “one foot in front of another” and “one aid station to the next.”

Quitting, she says, is not an option. And negative thoughts need to be excluded to keep a healthy mindset.

Morrison says that endurance training is “not about being so fit you do not suffer, but about changing the way you feel that suffering. The suffering does not go away. But you feel better equipped to manage it.”

However, we can’t anticipate every turn in the road: sometimes we cannot prepare our minds or something unexpected occurs, so that we can easily feel overwhelmed. We might feel we have little energy or suffer muscle cramps and so on. Sometimes, Dittmer says, we simply have to “hang on.” The lows always pass. “The further you go on, they go away . . . . If you can just stick with it, you’re going to feel good again.”

Morrison’s story concludes that Dittmer believes gratitude is essential to cultivating a healthy mindset. During an ultramarathon, she runs on a “dark trail” all night long, so that the sight of first light becomes the object of deep gratitude. Her race is not finished, but “she’s grateful for having made it through the night.”

That image completes the analogy: with gratitude, Morrison says, we get through the pandemic, “from one sunrise until the next; until we hit the finish line.”

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Late stage, world altering pandemics, like gruelling ultra-marathons, can and do grind us down (consider historical accounts of the Spanish Flu). Pandemics (and marathons) do so by forcing us to confront our own mortality, our own rationale and faith for living.

This may be why these lines from Rabindranath Tagore always cause me to reflect on the marginal spaces we occupy–some of us more intensely now than ever before:

“Death is not the extinguishing of light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.”

And now it’s your turn: do you find the analogy between marathon running and pandemic life helpful? Please tell me on my “comments” page what thoughtful supports you are finding. I’d be delighted to hear from you.

April 25, 2021April 25, 2021

How to laugh more and other insights, in this month’s issue of “Tell Your Story Newsletter”

April 2021 Vol 3 Issue 4

Tell Your Story Newsletter (TYSN):

Specializing in Entrepreneurial and Organizational Storytelling

Let me tell your story!

IN THIS ISSUE:

ARTICLE 1: How to laugh more in Covid times

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER: The annoying case of “my bad”

SHOP NEWS

ABOUT US

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Welcome Mid-April, 2021!

Although Covid-19 continues to dominate the headlines and to force lockdowns across the country, we might be forgiven for feeling Covid fatigue and some gloom about the state of public health.

In this month’s issue, I therefore recommend a distraction, by visiting an article, “How to Laugh More,” by Monaco-based, laughing specialist (gelotologist), Freda Gonot-Schoupinsky. Who knew that laughter (gelotology) had its own field?!

And in this month’s issue of “Storytellers’ Corner,” I visit the always annoying (to me, at least) case of “my bad,” with etymologist, Bryan Garner.

Although media are questioning what kind of summer we will have, I hope that you are enjoying, whenever possible, the sights, sounds and smells of spring, which persist through recent cold and, in some places, snow.

May the freshness of spring (whether by a walk outdoors or a seat by an open window) provide some consolation for the public health anxieties we face, in these Covid times.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

Principal

Storytelling Communications

www.elizabethshih.com

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Article One: How to laugh more in Covid times (with Freda Gonot-Schoupinsky)

In a recent edition of the newsletter “Psyche,” gelotologist (laughter specialist) Freda Gonot-Schoupinsky (hereafter, G-S) authored an article called “How to Laugh More.”

After a full year’s (obsessive) diet of often terrible, Covid-related news, many of us feel we need to laugh more than ever! As G-S writes: “Laughter is one of the best things you can do to cheer yourself up. So much so that I actively make a habit to laugh regularly—and I think you should, too.”

She offers three reasons why we should laugh more:

(1) Laughter is good for our physical well-being. American psychologist William Fry (the father of gelotology), described laughter as “internal jogging.”

Laughter has been found to have a similar effect, on heart rate and heart-rate variability, as exercise. Our immune systems are strengthened, our muscles relax and our blood pressure decreases.

G-S writes that a study of nearly 21K older adults found that those who laughed daily had lower rates of heart disease, compared with those who never or rarely laughed.

Patients with Type 2 diabetes who watched a comic film (by contrast to those who listened to an unhumourous lecture) showed decreased levels of prorenin in their blood, a protein involved in diabetic complications.

Watching humourous videos can also increase our tolerance for pain. So if you strain your neck and back cleaning out the garage, an enlightened doctor’s orders may be YouTube or a highly imaginative comic novel–and not just Advil.

(2) Laughter has become known for offering benefits for our mental health and personal development. When we laugh, the brain releases endorphins and decreases its release of stress hormones (including cortisol). Laughter can reduce feelings of stress and symptoms of depression, to help us to cope when life gets challenging. Problems loom less large when we laugh about some aspect of them.

Recent studies show that laughter can improve the quality of our sleep, increase our self-esteem and creativity and help create an environment that enhances our capacity to learn. G-S quotes the poet Byron: “ ‘Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.’”

(3) People don’t laugh enough: studies of adults in the US showed that on average, people laugh 18 times per day, with respondents varying between 0 and 89. I’m now searching for results in Canada. But–and this is crucial–we can all laugh without having the stimulation of humour.

G-S says that babies, for instance, laugh and coo without hearing (or understanding) jokes or stories. Laughter and humour can occur separately for us all. She writes: “We don’t need to wait for something funny to happen before we can experience the benefits of laughter.”

Laughter can be free, easy-to-use and fast to take effect. You don’t have to buy equipment or join a group or go to a specific location. G-S writes that laughter “burns calories, . . . it’s low risk and it’s legal.” We are 30 times more likely to laugh with someone else than when we’re alone and laughter tends to be a bonding process between people.

But G-S also says that it’s “perfectly possible to laugh when you’re alone” and to benefit from laughter.

Based on American psychologist Paul McGhee’s book, Humour as Survival Training for a Stressed-Out World (2010), G-S recommends three strategies or “humour habits”:

(1) Surround yourself with humour. Watch classic movies or comedy clips, collect jokes that you hear from others, tune into re-runs of sit-com shows you remember from the past. Create a file on your computer or digital device, so you can revisit these kind of “funnies.”

(2) Try to practice having a more “playful attitude” at work and at home (or wherever you work, in Covid times). Try to live more in-the-moment and find fun in daily life. G-S says this is “like warming up” before you start a run. Think about preparing your mind and body to laugh.

(3) Try with intention to laugh more frequently and more deeply. When you’re alone, think of something funny and learn how to laugh out loud from it. This gets easier with practice. She says to consider and try different styles of laughter, such as “playful, joyful and natural.”

Interestingly, G-S says that there is no such thing as “fake” laughter, since “all laughs are real, just produced by different vocal systems.” However, when we are just starting, self-induced laughter may feel somewhat forced. Don’t lose heart, as she says, “Self-induced laughter can get a bad rap, but research indicates that it can be even more effective for health and well-being than the spontaneous kind.”

Psychologist Paul McGhee recommends “looking for humour in everyday life . . . laugh at silly typos, or at the shape of a vegetable in your garden or fridge, or at the antics of your pet—whatever works.”

Verbal humour (such as puns) can arise from almost any context. Cartoon and comic groups exist on social media to share zany humour. (I’ve never laughed harder on Facebook than I have by subscribing to vintage cartoons from “The Far Side.”)

Being open to finding humour in day-to-day occurrences can soften embarrassing and stress-ridden moments. So learning to take ourselves less seriously and “to find humour in the midst of stress” can be helpful.

You can train your own skills as a comedian by writing your own jokes and by reading and viewing the growing number of online resources on laughter. For instance, my colleague, marketer and all-around funny man, Michael Katz, has undertaken training as a stand-up comedian and marvelled at how different that art form is from writing humourously (for which he’s better known).

You can undertake more formal practices of learning to laugh, without humour. G-S refers to “Laughter Yoga,” invented by the Indian medical doctor, Madan Kataria, in the mid-1990s, to reduce depression and loneliness. Nowadays, laughter yoga features “playful movements and exercises,” more than sophisticated yoga poses. For instance, you can learn to speak “gibberish” to initiate laughter.

Similarly, “Laughing Qigong” in China pairs “a series of breathing and body movements . . . with simulated laughter.” Studies show that practicing this has improved participants’ mood and humour levels.

Gonot-Schoupinsky herself created “laughies,” one-minute audio recordings of people laughing, that we can play back, either alone or with others.

They’re “like selfies,” she writes, “but instead of taking a photo of yourself, you record yourself laughing.” She says that recording and listening to a “laughie” three times daily for a week increased well-being by 16% in healthy adults.

Almost all of us can remember hearing someone whose laughter was so distinctive and vibrant that merely hearing it made us want to laugh. I can remember a family friend whose energetic “smoker’s laugh” alone made a me giggle, as a small child.

Other benefits from laughter included being more relaxed, more open to laughing with others and sleeping better. In the UK, a psychologist whom Gonot-Schoupinsky cites, is developing a database of “laughies” for others to use (aka “laughing stock”), much like the individual who in the US started the scream” telephone line, for those frustrated by our late Covid-times.

Further resources:

Videos abound online on the nature of laughter and how it benefits us. Gonot-Schoupinsky refers to many videos, books, talks and interviews with UK and US based psychologists and researchers; read here.

Her two favourite books on the topic are Laughter: A Scientific Investigation (2020) by Robert Provine; and Taking Laughter Seriously (1983) by John Morreall (a philosophical overview).

Forthcoming: a book by psychologist Jennifer Aaker, and the marketer Naomi Bagdonas: Humor, Seriously: Why Humor is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life and How Anyone Can Harness it, Even You (2021).

And now it’s your turn? Do you separate laughter and humour? If you practice laughing regularly, what difference do you notice in your sense of well-being? Please share on my “contact” page. I’d be delighted to hear from you!

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STORYTELLER’s CORNER …

STORYTELLER’S CORNER: The annoying case of “my bad” (with Bryan Garner)

In his blog on English usage at the end of March, etymologist Bryan Garner discussed the common expression, “my bad.”

He describes it as a “low colloquialism” that “gained popularity in the mid-1980s, apparently growing out of American sports slang and meaning, ‘Sorry, my mistake.'”

Garner goes on to say that it was “established” enough that it was “listed in a collection of campus slang published by the University of North Carolina” (no date given) and became common in pop culture, especially in the 1990s.

However, Garner adds, with (one suspects a gleeful look in his eye), the “phrase now seems to be on the wane.”

My beef with “my bad” is that, during the past 10-15 years, I heard the expression used in a “throwaway” manner, when the speaker couldn’t be bothered to correct an error that in those cases deserved more attention! For instance, when talking about one’s health care or when talking to university students about their writing, sometimes precision matters!

And now it’s your turn: Do you still use “my bad?” What case can you make (or not) of its usefulness?

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SHOP NEWS:

I am particularly grateful this month to members of my faith community (St. Andrew’s Presbyterian) who have offered me support with caring for (and moving) an aging family member. Just as it’s often said, “It takes a village to raise a child,” caring for our elderly works much better when shared in community.

So special thanks to Rev. Roberto and Heather DeSandoli, Laura Van Loon, Martha and Dean Fergusson, as well as Jan Rodda, Judy McFadden, MaryAnn Lyle, Shirley Fourney, Donna and Jim Fenton and those whose names I may briefly have forgotten, for loaning time and other resources for my family’s move.

Senior’s health care in the province, as many of you know or have experienced, is problematic, so the last years of most seniors’ lives can present choppy waters. Having friends who become like family are a tremendous blessing.

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Thank you also to my communications friends, including Christina Cherneskey (Christina Cherneskey Communications) and Megan Kent (Little Ox Videography), for sharing their insights on staySMART contracts we’ve been working on, since the winter. Talking with peers is so helpful to focus and to gauge our progress, when we face complex demands on our time and energy.

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The days of self-isolation I experienced, after taking a precautionary Covid test in March, have reminded me of the importance of making an effort (when it’s safe) to walk again, to enjoy the warmth of our prairie sunshine and the freshness of the air.

If you are Saskatchewan-based, have you seen or heard the Canada Geese who started to appear, four weekends ago? Spotting them and their activities first alerted me to the start of spring.

How can this season of growth inspire you to keep fighting?

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ABOUT US:

Between 2011 and December 2018, Elizabeth Shih Communications chronicled the stories of B2B marketing and communications on the Prairies and across the country.

Effective January 1, 2019, I rebranded as “Storytelling Communications.” I now write marketing and communications documents and lead workshops that help entrepreneurs and newcomers to Canada to strengthen their businesses or secure better jobs.

Interested in learning more? Please contact me through my CASL-compliant website (www.elizabethshih.com ).

After I receive your message, I’ll be pleased to discuss projects with you!

Please visit my website for more information (www.storytellingcommunications.ca).

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April 18, 2021April 25, 2021

The troubling case of “awesome” in this week’s blog posting

The UK-based training organization, TEFL.org, from which I received certification last winter in ESL teaching, recommends the website, “GrammarCheck.net” (https://www.grammarcheck.net/) as a resource for teaching new learners of English.

I was glad to see the site address the problem of “awesome”—a linguistic bugbear of mine (and maybe yours, too)?

“Awesome,” although no longer in its heyday, still continues to be an overused word in the English language. As their contributor, Jennifer, writes, “let’s stop using it as a default every time we’re too lazy, busy, insecure,” etc., to think of a more precise word.

“Awesome” is now nearly passe: “It no longer makes you sound cool.” I found it hard to hear coming from the mouths of 80+ year olds near me, nearly ten years ago.

If you feel tempted, especially in spoken English, to say something is “awesome,” you could consider these better (more precise) options:

unimaginable
unanticipated
phenomenal
remarkable
unbelievable
breathtaking
tremendous
unexpected
spectacular
unthinkable
unforeseen
significant
stunning
startling
splendid
wonderful
overwhelming
stupefying

The diversity in meaning of the terms in the list above reflects just how sloppy (i.e imprecise) it is to use a “catch-all” term like “awesome.”

For all writers and readers (including my ESL students), the sooner we think more precisely than speaking or writing the term “awesome,” the sooner we elevate the quality of our communication.

And that can only be a good thing, say teachers of English at every level!

And now it’s your turn: have you used “awesome” as a descriptor in spoken or written English? What happens when you replace it with one of the above alternatives? Please share your linguistic bugbears with me. I’d be delighted to use them in future postings.