Semantic Argument: year in review

posted by Rob on 2009.12.21, under Miscellaneous
12.21

In December in the US, perhaps the only thing that competes with what one of my friends referred to as “the explosive force of an American Christmas” is year-end list building. Or decade-end lists, in this case. A few I’ve noticed so far this year are BuzzSugar’s Top 20 Favorite Movies of the DecadeTime’s Top 10 Everything of 2009, and The Pollywog Blog’s Best and Worst Brand Names of 2009 (don’t be shocked if I have more to say about this last one in a later post).

February 2010 will mark a year since my first few posts on Semantic Argument, but in the spirit of the season, now seems like a better time to do a “year” in review. According to PostRank, here are the top five posts on this blog, in order:

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Our gym isn’t so much clean as it is “clean”

posted by Rob on 2009.12.15, under Writing/Grammar
12.15

Couldn’t finish the year out without one more photo of unnecessary quotation marks.

Body Wise

It really is a nice thought. It just doesn’t need to be between quotation marks.

The problem with Flip’s ad campaign

posted by Rob on 2009.12.11, under Advertising, Brand Strategy
12.11

I’ve owned a Flip Video camera since July. I enjoy the product, so when I heard about the Cisco-owned product’s consumer ad campaign, I was especially interested. But when the ads started showing up on TV, I was immediately disappointed. The campaign is built around what Cisco is calling “flipable moments,” which apparently include a dog almost barking “I love you,” two young children having a screaming contest, or a woman doing a handstand on the beach.

For starters, it meant asking Facebook fans to contribute “flipable moments,” which Lipe defines as everyday spontaneous events shot on a Flip Video camera.
“We believe the effort of this campaign will help the brand become one of those devices you can’t leave your home without,” Lipe says. “If people leave home with their phone, email device and Flip, it’s a great day.”

So what is a flipable moment? The through-line for most of these is that they appear to have been captured on impulse. The people depicted in these 15-second ads have fun—they enjoy the little things in life, and now they’re able to capture them on video and share with friends and family. What a great concept for a brand to own! …a brand other than Flip Video.

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Feeling rhopalic?

posted by Rob on 2009.12.07, under Writing/Grammar
12.07

Another one for the activity box. Thanks to Paul for pointing it out.

One of the great resources over at Wordsmith.org is a newsletter called A.Word.A.Day. Today’s word is “rhopalic,” which apparently means “having each successive word longer by a letter or syllable.” Along with the word, the site challenges readers to submit “a rhopalic newspaper headline (can be of increasing or decreasing word lengths) for a real or imaginary event.”

I gave it a go:

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