McKinsey&Company
There ought to be a word for that
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Is this thing on? A recent “hot mic” incident involving President Biden and his choice words for a certain journalist got lots of press. A less-explored angle is the origin of the term “hot mic.” One part of its lore: electrical current used to make objects like microphones hot to the touch. [WSJ] |
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The pen is mightier. It may be counterintuitive in a time of constant Slacking, Zooming, and WhatsApping—but the pandemic could be ushering in a golden age of business writing. Remote workforces require talented scribes to keep dispersed teams in the loop and to help new employees understand company culture. Clear, thorough documentation benefits all levels of the organization. [Economist] |
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A fresh vocabulary. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is a nearly 300-page book of definitions for words that didn’t exist before author John Koenig invented them. Koenig, a videomaker and graphic designer, says many of the made-up words in his book refer to commonly experienced emotions or sensations for which an English term was previously lacking. One example: tichloch—inspired by the hungry crocodile in Peter Pan—“which is the feeling that you don’t know how much time you have left on this earth,” Koenig says. |
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This book is whimsdee. Both whimsical and deep, Koenig’s project suggests that we are the masters of language, free to forge it and direct it to do our bidding, rather than its servants, merely using words as ready-made tools. If you feel at all hem-jawed (“trapped inside your own language”), this book may be just the ticket to a more nyctous (“quietly overjoyed”) outlook. |
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| — Edited by Katy McLaughlin |
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