Wednesday, December 9, 2009

It's All in How You Say It


Even if you're not a writer, I'm sure you'll agree that clear communication is important. It's why companies hire copy writers. Obviously, not everyone chooses to hire out. Which is why you run into some funny copy on packages that come from overseas.

Once, my son won a prize at a church carnival. The object of the game (made in China) was to bounce a ball off a rubber target and into a cup. But this is how they described the process on the box: "Convulsing enter!" Something sure got lost in translation.

Below is a snippet from a spam comment that was left on one of my blog posts. I deleted it from the post, but had to share this piece of it. I changed none of the wording, spelling or punctuation, but I did remove the company name and the link. (Sorry, you'll have to find another way to get rich):
I`m happy and lucky, I started to get income with the help of this company, and I invite you to do the same. It`s all about how to select a correct partner utilizes your savings in a right way - that`s [company name]!. I make 2G daily, and what I started with was a funny sum of 500 bucks! It`s easy to join , just click this link [removed]and lucky you`re! Let`s take our chance together to feel the smell of real money.
Isn't that a hoot? Whatever you do today, have fun, be clear, and if you're lucky, maybe you can take the chance to feel the smell of real money!

3 comments:

Patti Lacy said...

Jennifer, as one who's critiqued my work, you know how those metaphors can mix and match like the old Buster Brown clothes.

Thanks for gifting me a chuckle.

You go, girl!
Patti

Karen Lange said...

Love the 'smell of real money'! Never heard that one before:) Yes, it is so important to be clear and concise when we write. Easier said than done, but something to shoot for, truly. Blessings!

Jennifer AlLee said...

Patti, your metaphors have NEVER been so miss-matched!

That spam just cracked me up. Almost made me want to find the person who wrote it and thank him for the chuckle... except that I don't want to smell the money with him :+}

Have a lovely day, ladies!