Medium Form
Spelling is just a map
English spelling is at best a rough guide to pronunciation rather than an authoritative hard and fast reference.
Gloʔal stops
What happens when glottal stops become the norm? Danish happens.
You are saying-g it wrong-g
Having studied a number of languages and having taught English to Ukrainian and Syrian refugees for the last three years, I realise just how little use English spelling is as a guide to English pronunciation.
How's you guys's day going?
"You guys's" may not be elegant, but as a pragmatic plural it’s very functional and very English.
The mystery of the embouchure
How come so many people know the word embouchure and know roughly what it means?
The frustration and the promise of What Next?
THE KEY QUESTIONS OF LIFE (AND DEATH)
- WHAT DO I NEED?
- WHAT ACTIONS COULD I PERFORM?
- WHAT DO CIRCUMSTANCES ALLOW?
SO... WHAT'S THE BEST THING TO DO NEXT?
The Euros and the Lionesses
For me, these Euros ticked all the boxes. The fact that it was women playing made it even more entertaining. What a cast of characters!
Paying for News and Journalism
Whatever your news diet, do you ever ask yourself: how are they paying for this? how are you paying for this? And what does that mean for what you’re being shown?
Journey or Way?
I’m not grinding toward some finish line; I’m cultivating a relationship with these things that speak to something essential in me..
Goodbye USA
Relying on the USA to defend Europe from Russia has proved to be a very weak and stupid strategy. Trump has exposed the weakness and stupidity.
Adult Learning
For me, disembodied “Learning About” is, at best, an appetizer for the real thing. That’s why I love the saying: “Knowledge is only a rumour until it’s in the muscle.”
Bracing myself, counting the blessings
Afer the death of Zakir Hussein, I have been casting my gaze apprehensively over other “stars” who have illuminated my musical firmament all these decades
Remembering letters
Back in the day, there was a fashion for pen friends. There was a sort of matchmaking service in one of the weekly magazines I had as a kid. I signed up when I was about 10 or so. My first pen friend was a girl in Ålesund, Norway.
I don’t know
Recently I came across an article about mindfulness and meditation in The Times. In the comments section, there were the predictable remarks about “woo” and “fad” and how mindfulness is just another meaningless buzzword to con people.
Commit to Clarity
Transparency and being a bit vulnerable are the thing now. So how about trying the following approach the next time you make a presentation or speak at a meeting? It should sound familiar …
To command Attention, present with Attention
Your audience is spoiled rotten. Whenever it may be, whoever your audience might be – any audience – they’re pretty much certain to be spoiled. Pretty much certain to be infinitely distractible, to have short attention spans, to be twitchy and fickle.
Yeah yeah yeah, but…
In the early Noughties, when I lived near Amsterdam, I used to take part in a coaching group. I didn’t much like the guy who ran it, and I wasn’t crazy about the other people either. But I had a sense it was worth the trouble, so I regularly made the half-hour drive.
Who are you fooling?
I’m a sucker for honesty and authenticity and integrity and congruence and being true to yourself and all that good stuff. I’ve even said in public that I have a life-long aversion to bullshit, including my own. That seems to resonate with people.
Digitally disembodied
You are reading this on the Internet, so you have probably developed some level of digitally-enabled “ambient awareness”.
Breathe better to present better
What do you have in common with a highly-skilled ninja-type assassin? A lot more than you may think.