Vocabulary.com Blog
Articles about Marketing
"What was your latest preneur?"
It's one of the most quoted lines in the 2010 movie The Social Network. The line is proof that -preneur has bid adieu to its entre- associate and become a word part with independent staying power. Continue reading...Blog Excerpts
"Staycation," "Bleisure," and Other Made-Up Travel Words
Is the travel industry particularly susceptible to making up words like "bleisure" (combining "business" and "leisure") and "staycation" (for a stay-at-home vacation)? Associated Press travel reporter Beth J. Harpaz investigates — with help from our own Ben Zimmer, who says that such neologisms "come in handy in a business sector where there's often a need to come up with clever marketing spin." Read the AP article here.
In case you haven't heard, today is "Cyber Monday," the day that retailers have decided we should all be flocking to make online purchases for our holiday gift list. Last year, Ben Zimmer explained how the advent of "Black Friday" led to the branding of "Cyber Monday" and other days in the Holy Week of shopping.
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In a comment on recent Blog post "Words We Love to Hate," Vocabulary.com user Sarah S. referenced the dreaded language of corporate speak: "Words like leverage, gamification, user interface, audience engagement, strategise...when I see the words 'align with' my aorta nearly pops!" And Sarah S. is not by any stretch of the imagination the first person to take issue with the language of corporate ladder climbing (or ladder clinging, as the case may be).
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Retailers, not content with branding products, have lately taken to branding days of the week, as a way to hype the holiday shopping rush. "Black Friday," the name for the day after Thanskgiving, was transformed from a negative to a positive by some clever etymological mythologizing (make that etymythologizing). Then the Monday after Thanksgiving was christened "Cyber Monday," and now some marketers would like to extend that to a "Cyber Week."
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It's one of the enduring cross-cultural culinary conundrums: Why are packaged potato snacks called chips in the US and crisps in the UK? The answer is equal parts history, legend, and marketing savvy. And the spudscape is getting more complicated as cultural boundaries dissolve and the snack-food industry grows more creative and prolific.
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CandlepowerAd and marketing creatives
Star-Crossed and Loving It
How "star-crossed" became a positive adjective for some writers.
In honor of Valentine's Day, let's revisit one of the most famous couples in the love-story canon: Romeo and Juliet. Remember how the prologue to Shakespeare's play introduces them? "From forth the fatal loins of these two foes / A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life."
Star-cross'd! Isn't it romantic? Continue reading...Sign up now (it’s free!)
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