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The Sunday edition of the Boston Herald ran a hilarious column by Mike Pingree called Please officer, I was only kidding, honest. It cites several police incidents that were, well…stupid. This one was my favorite: “A man broke into a school facility in Albuquerque, N.M., and stole some computer equipment, but he left behind the nametag he wore at the restaurant where he worked. The name was ‘Sam.’ The…

…I have no idea. But I suspected Google had the answer. So, according to 625 Google references to the exact phrase “most important word in marketing,” the following are the five most common answers: 1) YOU “I’ve always said that the most important word in marketing is YOU. That is, your marketing needs to convey very clearly what’s in it for the client or customer. ‘This is what YOU…

(This is the third post in a series of incidents regarding an article by Jeff Shaffer in the August 26th issue of the Christian Science Monitor.) This is the first time I’ve ever written a letter to the editor. Mainly because it’s the first time I’ve ever read an article about why people should wear nametags. Click here to read the LTE in today’s issue of the Christian Science…

In last Friday’s post, I asked friends and strangers in the blogospehere to help me locate a man named Jeff Shaffer. He wrote a fantastic article in the Christian Science Monitor about wearing nametags. I immediately received several letters from people who’d searched for his information on InfoSpace.com, Linkdin, Catbird Press, Google and the like. But because it was the weekend, I figured I’d wait till Monday to verify…

Jeffrey Shaffer is freelancer who writes about media, American culture, and personal history. He recently published a brilliant article in the Chrisitian Science Monitor called Nothing a good name tag can’t fix. (Article sent to me by John Milton Fogg.) Here are some exerpts: “So here’s a hypothetical question to consider next time you’re standing at a busy intersection: Would you rather have your face captured on a surveillance…

In the past few weeks, I’ve read several articles addressing a possible ban on the word “mate” in the halls of Parliament House. According to CNEWS.com: “It’s pomposity gone mad,” Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke said. “It’s not surprising. In a sense we’re living in an age where the concept of mateship has been damaged to a fairly large extent by a lot of the approaches of this government.”…

British Northern Ireland Secretary Marjorie Mowlam, whose no-nonsense style helped forge Northern Ireland’s landmark peace accord, died yesterday at the age of 55 after hitting her head in a fall last month. I read several articles about Ms. Mowlam. The consensus was that she was well known for her approachability. Irish Health reported this: Mowlam served as NI Secretary from 1997 to 1999. She played an instrumental role in…

Whenever I travel for the weekend I always remember to bring plenty of extra nametags. And not just my typical half-dozen pre-mades that say “Scott,” but lots of blank nametags too, for those who wish to partake. (Along with a big fat Sharpie.) But after 1,748 days, I’ve learned that different cities respond to nametags in different ways. This past Saturday after the Cardinals won their only game of…

I get invites to LinkedIn all the time. People talk about Friendster like it was God’s gift to online social networking. But do they really work? There’s a great article in Pyschology Today about this… “An important part of real networking is vouching for somebody who is introduced,” explains Heath. “By automatizing that process, you make it less effective.” While the sites may speed up connections, the ease of…

Different is not the same as unique. The word different is defined as “unlike” or “unusual,” and it comes from the Latin differre, or “to set apart, differ.” Now, the word unique means something…well…different. (Ha ha.) It’s defined as “the only one,” and comes from the Latin unicus, or “single, sole.” And according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word unique also evolved to mean “remarkable or uncommon.” This…