I’ve just finished work on a new website devoted to Indian culture. Richard Blurton was a curator at the British Museum for more than thirty years. One of the biggest exhibitions he organised there was Voices of Bengal which involved constructing a 20ft high image of the goddess Durga. Now that he has retired, Richard […]
08
Jan
Jan
Just when some of us were worried about getting a train home because of a possible strike, I spotted this notice by one of the escalators at Waterloo station. It made me laugh. Whereas it could simply have said “Out of order”, someone had taken the trouble to write a specific, helpful notice. It suggested […]
18
Dec
Dec
A list of a candidate’s qualifications for a recent appointment included the following: “She currently carousels on numerous committees.” This verbified noun took me by surprise. I thought carousels were are either merry-go-rounds or movable screens on a website or phone. I suppose the intention was to suggest that the person had lots of experience […]
I’ve just come across a new one. In my local bike shop I saw a placard advertising PRE-PEDALLED BIKES. What on earth are they? I wondered. The assistant explained that when someone no longer wants a bike, they take it in, clean it up, make sure it’s safe, and sell it. I bit my tongue: […]
26
Oct
Oct
The three case studies I’ve written about – eating more eggs in Malawi, reducing obesity in South-East England and reducing the demand for bushmeat in Kinshasa – were just a few I learned from at the World Social Marketing Conference last month. A lesson that came through loud and clear from several speakers was the […]