Breathing Life Into a Ghost Blog

It's been exactly two years since I published in True to Words. Sad! Time to bring this ghost blog back to life.

For not having published a new post in two years, traffic has been surprisingly steady. As in several days within the last month there have been traffic spikes greater than 100 visitors. That's... actually pretty incredible for a zombie blog.

So, here I am, ready to breathe new life into True to Words. I still really feel strongly about the reasons why I started this blog: To have a creative outlet all my own, to explore language, and to have a bit of fun writing. To give you a taste of what to expect in the future, these are my 5 most popular posts of all time:

5. Language Barrier: Finger Lickin' Good. Sometimes, your marketing messages don't quite translate into another language. KFC learned that the hard way.

4. Longest Words in the English Language. Yes, that word from Mary Poppins is here. And so is antidisestablishmentarianism. But you won't believe how many letters are in the longest word ever.

3. Floriography: The Language of Flowers. When a flower isn't just a flower, you have floriography. You might already know what yellow roses mean, but do you know what a yellow carnation means?

2. Friday Photography - Graffiti is Like Modern Day Cave Painting. Before I started Sam Can Shoot (another ghost blog which I may revive), I featured photos every Friday. This post was a little different from all the rest and the title speaks for itself. 

1. Dinner vs. Supper. The popularity of this post astounds me, and people still leave comments on it - more than 43,000 views at the time of this writing. Read about how dinner and supper aren't quite the same, and dinner actually started as breakfast!

Sara Duane is a freelance writer in the Twin Cities area of the great state of Minnesota.  

A Word to the Wise

A poem I heard recently that I really liked and wanted to share. It seems that it was first published in November, 1906, in St. Nicholas Illustrated Magazine for Young Folk. It appears right between a comic strip and an article entitled "How Knives Cut."

A Word to the Wise
By Louise M. Laughton

Little owlet in the glen
I'm ashamed of you;
You are ungrammatical
In speaking as you do,
You should say, "To whom! To whom!"
Not, "To who! To who!"

Your small friend, Miss Katy-did,
May be green, 't is true,
But you never hear her say
"Kay do! She do!"

Sara Duane is a freelance writer in the Twin Cities area of the great state of Minnesota.  

September Article Roundup: Minneapolis Pet News Examiner

I've sort-of adopted another blog for a while (more on that later) and still work as a freelancer on other people's blogs (probably not so much on that later), so poor True to Words has appeared to be abandoned. It's always in the back of my mind, though, and now the itch to clean out the tumble-weeds on this blog has struck. So here we go.

As much as I haven't been keeping up with this blog, I have been sort-of keeping up with my Examiner.com articles. I missed my June article roundup article, so there are more in this post than previously expected!

Exercising safely with your dog. When there's no snow on the ground during the spring, summer and fall months, Minnesotans engage in more outdoor exercise and many times that includes their dogs. It's good for pets to exercise, as up to 40 percent of dogs in the United States are overweight or obese, but just like people, there are some exercises that are better for them than others. Learn more about fun activities that both people and canines can do to stay fit while staying safe.

Minneapolis ranked a Top 10 dog-friendly city. Estately ranked the top 17 Best U.S. Cities for Dogs. Minneapolis ranked No. 10 for dog loving cities. The evaluation included several factors to determine the rankings, including weather, Walk Score, yard size, dog activities, Meetup groups, and the availability of dog sitters on Rover.com. Minneapolis scored well in several categories, with the only thing that seem to factor against Minneapolis being the harsh winters that keep people and their pups indoors for months on end.

Tips for keeping pets safe on the Fourth of July. This was written with the Fourth of July in mind but could also be considered for other gatherings and events. Many of the same dangers present for July 4th are present during other parties, minus the fireworks. That could include lots of guests, alcoholic beverages and too much food available. If you're having a party soon and you have pets, take a few minutes to peruse this article.

Minneapolis pups have Pride (Photos). The 41st annual Pride celebration in Minneapolis was held this year in Loring Park from June 28th to June 30th. I attended the festival and the annual Pride parade on Sunday afternoon, which marched down Hennepin Avenue through downtown Minneapolis. I snapped a bunch of pics of pups pimping their pride, but I'm disappointed that I missed on particular pooch who had been dyed into a rainbow of colors. Next year, my pretty, I'll get a picture of that little dog, too!

Stop the Bleeding: An open letter to police on the shooting of pets. It makes me sad that this article ever had to be written. It makes me even more sad to know that it's one of my most popular posts, knowing that its being shared in sadness and outrage at the callous killing of our best friends at the hands of people who are supposed to be keeping them safe. Click through to read about the excuses that are being made and the problems this is causing to our communities.

Pet Memorial Day event to be held in Minneapolis. More pets these days are considered part of the family. When a loved pet dies, the loss felt by human companions is comparable to the death of a family member. Attending a pet memorial is a healthy way for humans to cope with the deaths of companion animals. Two organizations that work closely with pets and their human companions created the Twin Cities area’s first-ever Pet Memorial Day event on National Pet Memorial Day, September 8th. I didn't attend it, this was more of an announcement so other people who wanted to could.

The next article roundup will be in December, but my next blog post will most decidedly be sooner.

17 Quotes About Communication

Communication is the activity of conveying, receiving and exchanging information, as by speech, visuals, signals, writing or behavior.

We all think that we know how to communicate, and that we're always communicating effectively. But we so often forget that real communication between two parties - not just talking at a person or listening to someone - requires actually sharing information in such a way that both the message conveyor and the message receiver understand what is being said.

While that may seem simple, it's far too often easier said than done.

Let's face it, if I had a special secret for making sure you are instantly understood by others, or how to automatically understand everyone who communicates with you, I'd be a millionaire and this blog would have a more precise focus. But I don't, so instead, I have put together a collection of 17 inspirational quotes from some great minds that may have been on to something.

"First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak." ~ Epictetus

"Grammar is the logic of speech, even as logic is the grammar of reason." ~ Richard Chenevix Trench

"Genius is the ability to put into effect what is on your mind." ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Good communication is just as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after." ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak." ~ Hans Hofmann

"There is only one rule for being a good talker - learn to listen." ~ Christopher Morley

"A word to the wise is infuriating." ~ Hunter S. Thompson

"The liberty of speaking and writing guards our other liberties." ~ Thomas Jefferson

"The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them." ~ Stephen King

"Music . . . can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable." ~ Leonard Bernstein

"The tongue is the only instrument that gets sharper with use." ~ Washington Irving

"Speak when you are angry - and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret." ~ Dr. Laurence J. Peter

"The less people know, the more they yell." ~ Seth Godin

"If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if fifteen minutes, three days; if half an hour, two days; if an hour, I am ready now." ~ Woodrow Wilson

"The mouth is made for communication, and nothing is more articulate than a kiss." ~ Jarod Kintz

"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." ~ George Bernard Shaw 

"If you have nothing to say, say nothing." ~ Mark Twain

Haiku News - April 8, 2013

Should cursive writing
still be taught in schools? Or was
it a passing fad?

Whistling language
faces extinction because
texts are easier.

If a baby calls
a baby "a baby," is
it still a baby?

Text-speak is either
a whole new language to learn
or pure laziness.

"LOL" is three
decades old, but "OMG"
is near one hundred.