How not to say what you want to

Why do we say “Excuse me” sometimes when we mean ”Move” and/or “Listen up”? Two incidents in the last week prompted this question. 
1. A man stands between me and my favourite bookshelf in the library, absorbed in his finger-voyage up his nose.  ”Excuse me,” I say (hoping I won’t have to touch any books that he  uh . . .  you know).  He turns around eagerly, “Yes? Tell [...]

Do I dare disturb the universe?

Why am I blogging? Isn’t  it  a) self-indulgent and b) a waste of time? Yes, I have also asked myself whether my life and thoughts are worth recording. I remain divided on the issue. For now.

Blog = web log. A diary. Except that it’s online and therefore not private. Not that diaries were always private. Famous writers had personal diaries [...]

Crack Resistance

You can’t really say anything today without treading on somebody’s community corns.  Whether it’s Aaja Nachle, or Taslima Nasreen, or the Fine Arts students at MS University. Something is expressed and someone somewhere goes off the deep end.  The feelings of a community have been trifled with. 
Everybody has the right to an opinion, and to express it.  True. But why do [...]

Be brief. Be clear. Be human.

That’s the key to good writing in English, as numerous books, training programmes and web sites on writing would have us believe. Everyone’s campaigning for Clear English. Or Plain English. (Are they the same?)
It’s all the rage in today’s corporate workplace. No one wants good, old-fashioned grammar and correct usage anymore. “Oh we know all that,” they say airily. [...]

Faceless amateurs who don’t have to prove their expertise

Apparently that’s what bloggers are according to this news story.
Isn’t that just ripping!!
However, I’m only testing the waters here. And very, very gingerly.