Tag Archives: Words

  • Getting Paid to Write 2014 December 29
    Most of what you read on the internet was written by someone who wasn’t paid to write it. Is that how it should be?
  • Nix the Just 2014 October 23
    The word “just” is perilous for good communication because it’s so often a stalking horse for disrespecting and minimizing others’ experiences.
  • Waiting to Talk Isn’t Listening 2014 October 11
    Listening is more than just leaving space for the other person to talk.
  • ‘If’ Doesn’t Belong In Apologies 2014 October 01
    “We’re sorry if we offended you”? No you aren’t. Taking responsibility is important, and it starts with ditching the “if”. Apologies work better without if.
  • “Just a Flesh Wound”: Moving Past Stupid Arguments 2014 September 29
    Some people debate like the Black Knight: there’s no way to convince them your rebuttal wasn’t just a flesh wound. We should stop arguing and move on.
  • Listening Isn’t About Giving Advice 2014 September 14
    Listening is about taking in, about receiving another person’s story. Advising is about putting forth, about dispensing your own thoughts.
  • Nested Quotation Marks 2014 September 05
    How do you place a comma, period, or parenthesis when dealing with quotation marks? I think we should make it simpler: use nested punctuation.
  • Talking about Lived Experience 2014 September 02
    People with lived experience need to be respected and heard. Here’s a framework for how to listen respectfully and learn from their lived experience.
  • How to ask about suicide 2014 August 13
    How to ask friends and family about suicide and feel more comfortable starting the conversation. You can do this.
  • Why you shouldn’t say “suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem” 2014 August 12
    It’s not useful to say “suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem”. Here’s why, and here’s what to say instead.
  • Talking about suicide and Robin Williams’s death 2014 August 11
    Brief guide to talking about suicide and Robin Williams so we prevent harm to other vulnerable people.
  • Work and love, made visible 2014 August 06
    Work is love made visible. Or is that backwards?
  • Suicide-related Terminology 2014 June 05
    This is a glossary and usage guide for talking about suicide. We use a lot of specialized terms in the suicide prevention field, and I want to make sure you know what we’re talking about.
  • Scarcity and Overabundance in the Climate Change Debate 2014 January 20
    Why do so many “solutions” to climate change address the scarcity of fossil fuels without dealing with the overabundance of carbon in the atmosphere?
  • Want to leverage your language skills to impact people more? 2013 November 21
    Want to leverage your skills to maximally impact the people you’re talking to? Click this slightly snarky post about levers and leverage to learn more!
  • Humble, humility, humiliated… a meditation on words 2013 October 17
    (I’m in Rochester, NY for the annual conference of the National Association of Crisis Center Directors and Contact USA, and I often draw or make lists during workshops, which often helps me dispense with the distraction of whatever thought has arisen, letting me get back to the workshop’s content.) This thought came to me today: What’s ...