Hello, friend! Welcome to the thirty-fourth edition of The Write Fit, a fortnightly newsletter from Dan Hatch and Sarah Mitchell at Typeset. It’s Dan at the head of the table today, carving the Christmas turkey.
(Was this email forwarded to you? Get your own copy of future newsletters here.)
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Merry Zoom-mas to you and yours
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Season’s greetings from a grey, wet London where Christmas will — much like everything else this year — take place over Zoom.
For many of us, 2020 has been incredibly challenging. Some of us have lost loved ones or have been desperately worried for them. Some of us have lost our jobs or our businesses or have come terribly close to it.
And most of us, if not all of us, have changed the way we live our lives — wearing masks, socially distancing, working from home, homeschooling, washing our hands every five minutes and treating a trip to the grocery store like we’re Lara Croft raiding a tomb inexplicably located down the back of pasta aisle.
It has been, to put it mildly, a tough year for many of us.
The last thing we all need right now is for me to come up with a hackneyed Christmas marketing parable. So, I won’t.
Instead, Sarah, Wendy and I would simply like to wish you as joyful a holiday period as possible — however you’re able to spend it.
Here’s to a better and brighter 2021 — and our safely vaccinated, post-Zoom future.
Dan Hatch
22 December 2020
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Fancy giving the Typeset team a lil Christmas gift?
We’re doing another deep dive into writing effectiveness to find out how marketers and communications professionals can get a better return on their writing investment. If you could take our survey that would be the best present ever!
Everyone who finishes the survey will go into a draw for a $100 Amazon gift card. We would be grateful for your insight.
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Here’s a riddle for you: why is an editorial calendar like a Christmas tree?
While you ponder the answer, let me tell you an only slightly psychologically damaging story from my childhood...
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Loath to speak about loathing
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On deadline for our last newsletter, my editor (a.k.a. Dan) asked me to rewrite some of my Super Grammar. In my new version, I used a couple of examples to better explain direct address and greetings. Imagine my surprise when I opened the published newsletter to see Dan had added a note.
Editor's note: Matt is Wendy's husband. I think Matt working from home might be wearing a little thin!
Do you think Dan came to this conclusion because I said 2020 had been “one heck of a year”? Or because one of my examples included “Matt” and “you fool” in the same sentence?
Actually, I am loath for my husband to return to the office. I loathe the hour the drive adds to his workday. It’s time he could be spending with me and the dog! Matt, on the other hand, loathes the idea of spending any more time at his kitchen-table office. He likes being in an office building with people to talk to. He is, however, loath to be around others besides me and the dog right now.
Did you notice I kept switching between loath and loathe in the previous paragraph? You might be saying, “Well, yes, I did. And it’s about time you got to the point”. My point is loath and loathe are two different words with two different meanings, two different uses and even two different pronunciations.
loath (say lohth): adjective. Reluctant, averse, or unwilling.
loathe (say lohdh): verb. (loathed, loathing)
1. to feel hatred, disgust, or intense aversion for.
2. to feel a physical disgust for (food, etc.).
Now I’m loath to see what editor’s note Dan is going to leave under today’s Super Grammar.
Wendy Wood
Proofreader
Editor’s note: This is the second time in the last few month’s Wendy has ripped into me in Super Grammar. I’m starting to loathe receiving her copy for this column.
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Missed a recent edition of The Write Fit?
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All I want for Christmas...
We got you the perfect gift. It's Dolly Parton singing Oh Little Town of Bethlehem with her five sisters. (And if you dig right down into the bottom of Santa's sack, you'll find a little more festive Dolly here.) Now ain't that cheery!
Until next time,
Happy writing!
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