Lovely grammar quote

Found this the other day – pardon the archaic punctuation. I should note that when training, we do emphasise that it's ok to end sentences with prepositions (depending on tone of voice rules from brand, where necessary).

"When I read some of the rules for speaking and writing the English language
correctly, -- as that a sentence must never end with a participle, -- and
perceive how implicitly even the learned obey it, I think -- Any fool can make
a rule -- And every fool will mind it."
Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)

I'm, like, what's so special about IMing anyway?

This article from Discovery News is about some recent research into instant messaging, which has suggested that the language used is closer to spoken language than any other medium (something we commented on in this blog last August).

As well as documenting the similarities between IM chat and speech, the article talks about the 'valley girl speak' construction of I'm like, wow, and he's like, so what. Apparently this combination of the verb to be and like to mean say or think now has its own linguistic label: it's known as the quotative like.

The article is interesting because it points out that this construction is partly responsible for making a lot of IMing 'sound like' speech. Compare (as the article does) I'm, like, wow! with I thought wow!. Or she was like, hi with she said hi. The intonation differences leap out immediately.

Apparently the quotative like is spreading at speed throughout the world, and is particularly on the increase in IMing. It's going to be fascinating to see what other innovations IMing brings, and whether it truly is speeding up language change.

blowin' our own trumpet

It's always nice to get a bit of recognition...

Exstream Software are talking about the Customer Journey work we did recently for E.ON Energy (used to be Powergen) that's printed using full colour laser printing – take a look at this case study for their Dialogue software.

And Modern Utility Management website has more information on the same project.

Tubular bells and whistles

We're currently looking around for some artwork to jolly up our rather minimalist office walls. All information designers are obsessed by Beck's London tube map – it's practically an interview question: 'how much do you love Beck's tube map?' – and so we've been looking around for alternatives to the ubiquitous Great Bear poster.

While hunting around for tube maps, it's clear that Beck's creation now has its own ever-expanding subculture. I remember looking at Animals on the Underground (where people identify animal shapes from the tube map) a long time ago and there was little there. Now there's rhinos, puppies and seals galore.

This is potentially a more useful variation, if less fun: someone has identified all the tube connections where it's quicker to walk between stations than take the tube, and created a map with walklines. As the guy himself says, it's a little cluttered but a handy reference (similar to this famous book, The Way Out Tube Map, which tells you where to stand on the train to make the quickest possible exit).

The idea of the map as an evolving work of art is so widely recognised that you can even do a quiz to find out which version of the map you are. I'm a Beck classic, which I'm very pleased about.

Here's a lovely idea, which has apparently taken off around the world: this site, Living in a tube map, encourages you to take photos around your local tube station and upload them, where they can be accessed via an interactive map. It means that if you've always wondered what Pimlico looks like, or whether you can see the stadium from Wembley Central, you can take a look.

Once you've started investigating this subculture, it's strangely addictive. I'm blaming hundreds of students, all of whom have had the same bright idea for an assignment. Here's Shakespeare as a tube map, for instance, which I'm sure started off as an undergraduate piece. And this map shows you which tube stations have bloggers nearby – again I'm sure someone had too much time on their hands.

Finally, another nice idea. This map morphs depending on which station you click on to show you how long it takes to get to all the other stations on the map. Have a play: it's a bit like teasing a sea anemone.

Want more? This guy's blog has a much better list than this, including a map that shows where all the toilets are. But beware if you're tempted to keep searching for more: like the underground itself, it's sometimes hard to know where to get off...

and/or/if takes the plane/boat/train

The fear of missing out on crisp frosts and cosy winter fires saw the faces of Simon, Mark and Abi drain. So I've stepped up for our next challenge. I'm off to look for examples of how the other side of the world deals with good, bad and ugly information. I'll keep you posted with what I find (technology permitting). Or maybe I'll just have a well-earned break!

To start… Santa in shorts… it's wrong, isnt it?

It used to be so much easier...

This is a lovely story from the bbc. There's a new edition of the Highway Code out, so they've excavated the original version from 1931.

Suffice to say clear instructions were not deemed necessary for the (presumably limited, and wealthy) readership of the day. I'm particularly fond of this advice: 'Never take a risk in the hope or expectation that everyone else will do what is necessary to avoid the consequences of your rashness'. I can't help feeling that our clarion imperatives ('THINK!') lose a little eloquence in comparison, even if they are more effective.

Here's the article.

Reading makes you cross-eyed

It's official: for some of the time while we read, we're actually reading cross-eyed. Astonishingly, each of our eyes can focus on a different letter of a word, and our brain makes up the whole picture. Sometimes both eyes focus on the same letter - but only for about half the time. For the rest of the time, each eye looks at a different letters. Previously scientists thought our brain was favouring the image from one eye over the other.
Here's the article.