October2014
Getting set for definition
Of all the words we English speakers use, which one do you think is recognised to have the most different ways of using it?
According to Oxford Dictionaries, the word that boasts this honour is ‘set’, with a staggering 464 definitions.
That might surprise (more…)
Five words with unusual properties
English speakers use words so freely that they sometimes barely register the letters that go into forming them. When they do, there are often factors about them that cause surprise.
Here are five words that you may never think of in the same way again once (more…)
New words in the frame
No doubt at some point you’ve taken a photograph of somebody or something and found that something else in the photo has, deliberately or otherwise, made itself the centre of attention.
The ‘photobomb’ – the act of ruining a photograph by making an unplanned appearance in it – gained extra media coverage during (more…)
Number one on Google means nothing any more
One thing that has come out of the rise in mobile devices is the growing need for businesses to focus on local. People are now searching for companies that are near them, specifically tailoring their searches with longer tails to get more precise results.
Whether they are at home, on the train or abroad, search queries are demanding (more…)
Multi-skilled online marketing teams increasing in demand
Specially skilled online marketers are becoming less sought after, as companies hire digital marketers and engage with agencies offering more all-encompassing skills.
Where once firms would take on (more…)
The Googling of SEO
There used to be a time, not so very long ago, when search engine optimisation (SEO) was somewhat of an understood subject, requiring the attention of a specialist. With their efforts able to exploit the workings of search engines to best deliver page rank and site visits, it seemed to many somewhat of a dark art.
Today though, things are a mite bit different. Okay, perhaps a mighty bit more different.
Of course, nowadays (more…)
A selfie-centred attitude to digital marketing
Taking ‘selfies’, a photograph of yourself with a mobile device, has exploded in popularity over the last few years with the trend being taken up by celebrities and ordinary people alike, but marketing companies are now able to use the images to better target their campaigns.
Many firms in the sector (more…)
Five X-rated adjectives
When you first learn the alphabet and you start to look at illustrated books to do with it, you’d be forgiven for thinking that xylophones and x-rays are everyday household items. With so few English words beginning with X, it’s hard for publishers to find something visual enough for kids to connect with the (more…)
Three things called something different wherever you go
English is the most widely spoken language in the world, but that’s not to say that all of its speakers can always understand each other. Even in a fairly small country like Britain, little pockets of it develop their own ways of speaking, often oblivious to the fact that it’s unique to them.
Somehow, people all around the UK have settled upon their own peculiar little words for certain things. Here are (more…)
