Review of MindSnacks: A Five-Course Meal

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As app developers, we love getting feedback. Ratings, reviews, and questions tell us things we need to know: what works, what doesn’t, and what could be better. Based on customer reviews, it has become clear that Word Wit and Phrase Wit fans are hungry for games. We knew that our modest game play they would serve as fun learning mechanisms, but we hadn’t anticipated the extent to which people would crave more sophisticated and challenging gaming.

So Ballpoint has made a commitment to games. We’ve conducted research, like playing games for hours on end, attending the Game Developer’s Conference, and finding domain partners. We’ve figured out which games keep us engaged, and which ones allow us to truly retain what we’ve learned. While we’ve discovered that education games are mostly still finding their way, no one is bringing it like MindSnacks. The designs are stimulating, the games are fun, and the learning is real.

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Twitter vs. Facebook: This Social Media Maven’s Take on Building Your Base

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In addition to being an editor, app developer, and writer for Ballpoint, Inc. (yep, a lot of the Word Wit and Phrase Wit definitions/questions have come from this little head of mine), I also manage their social media accounts. While I took to Twitter like a geek takes to Star Trek, Facebook has never been a natural thing for me. It’s something that I’ve needed (and still need) to work on, which brings me to today’s post.

The webinar I joined today (as a student, not speaker) was about how to garner Facebook Likes from the people who matter, those who have the potential to connect to (AKA to buy) your product. All of the social media people say the same thing – it doesn’t matter how big your following/Like base is, it’s about reaching the people who will actually become involved. While I tried to be open-minded as I listened, I couldn’t help but think that I should be the one speaking. My webinar would be called “Twitter Rules, Facebook Drools: It’s Easier to Connect with Your Base There.”

Here’s why:

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Letters from the Grammarverse: Based Off is Off-Base

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Making mobile apps about word usage puts me in the sometimes awkward position of having to be an expert. While having very proper tea and crumpets with a Cornell professor and her British husband last weekend, I was presented with the following query. She kindly crafted a Letter to the Grammarverse so that I could consult some outside experts to corroborate my instincts — and hers.

Dear Ballpoint,

Last semester while reading a student response paper, I caught the
expression “based off of” and quickly corrected it: “Do you mean ‘based
on‘?” It quickly became apparent that usage was not done in error, but
completely intentional as there it was again and again throughout the
work. To the student, who was from the west coast (California), this usage
was common and she believed it to be correct. I then started noticing it
in other student papers and hearing people use it in conversation. So,
what is the story on this expression which sounds so utterly wrong to me?
Should we professors just let it go? Has “based off of” become so common
and accepted that it is now correct? If so, what do we do with “based on”?
Can it be saved? Continue reading →

Favorite Typos

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I make the same typos over and over again.

▪    I just typed Dick “Clard” instead of Dick “Clark.” The d and the k are both the third finger of each hand in touch typing. Since the word is capitalized, Spell Check leaves it alone.

▪    Frequently I’ll type you instead of your. Either I skip the r all together or, again, I’m going too fast to tap it hard enough. “You” is a good word, so Spell Check doesn’t notice. (Spell Check is the master of me.)

▪    And when I’m typing blisteringly fast (and I can), I blend with and the to make withe. Spell Check doesn’t call that one out either. Withe is a word? Really? (Yes, apparently it’s an alternative spelling of withy, a willow branch.)

These are the kinds of annoying little mistakes that make me embarrassed, but they don’t inhibit my reader’s ability to parse my meaning, and no one ever brings it up. We all make these kinds of typos.

What are your favorite typos? Do you make any over and over again? Like me?

Sell Me, Tweet Me, Panhandle Me?

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As my Ballpoint Revue Takeover comes to a close, I hope that I’ve convinced you to try out Twitter! While my first and second posts educated you on the merits of Twitter and the importance of your T-rep (Twitter reputation), this one will tie both together. This will post will teach you how to properly and successfully promote yourself on Twitter.

When you’ve worked tirelessly to create something, it’s only natural to want others to partake in your magnificent creation! If that creation happens to be something that affects your livelihood, demanding participation becomes a matter of survival. I think that most of us understand that and know that it’s something we’re all guilty of on some level; however, crossing into “panhandling” territory will cost you your Tweeps as well as your Twitter rep.

While I’m not claiming to be a Twitter expert, as someone who is now 4,000 Tweeps deep (the majority being authors), I feel fairly qualified to offer some tips. I’m constantly being panhandled!

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How’s Your SMP (Social Media Presence)?

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Hello Ballpoint friends, Ms. Bookish is back! As my Ballpoint Revue Takeover continues (don’t worry, Susan & David will be back soon), I want to dig a little deeper by addressing the importance of social media presence (SMP). Unless you represent yourself accordingly, how wonderful you are in real-life, how amazing your business is, or how admirable your intentions are, won’t translate. Since you all set up a Twitter account after reading my brilliant post, allow me to teach you how to make your SMP that of a Twitter God/dess.

Your T-rep, or Twitter reputation, can make or break you. Consequently, self-”twee”flection is a must for even the most seasoned of Tweeps. It’s what separates us from the pack, and wow, is it an impressive pack!

Stay interesting, remain legitimate by asking yourself these questions:

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To Tweet, or Not to Tweet

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As Ballpoint’s social media maven, I manage all of our social media accounts, everything from Facebook to Pinterest. While I believe that all of our accounts are valuable in helping us to make real connections with myriad subpopulations, I have a soft spot in my heart for Twitter. Both professionally and personally, it’s one of my favorite places to pass time. All of my Ballpoint coworkers (ok, most of them) agree with me, so we’re understandably defensive when non-tweeters pass judgement on our beloved Twitterverse.

Our final word is to forget the naysayers and jump on the bandwagon! Twitter is a social networking site that is here to stay, and here’s why:

1. Connections. Whether you want to use Twitter for personal or business purposes, it is the best place to make connections. Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., Twitter is one of the only social networking websites where the standard practice is to follow and be followed by perfect strangers (this expands your network immensely). It’s hard to believe, but some of these perfect strangers will become perfect friends —regular sources of support, advice, and entertainment without all of the messy real-person stuff getting in the way.

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Buzz Overkill: Overused Words

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“Dinner was lovely last night.” I actually wrote that in a thank you note this morning, prompting me to consider the pabulum I am capable of dishing out while writing. I might instead have written, “I’m still laughing about your crispy, roasted asparagus spears as a way of getting around eating anything green. They were tasty, I must admit, as was the rest of the meal. Thanks for the home cookin’!”

Better, yes? In lieu of a new note, I’ll send her a link to this blog to make up for it. Months ago, I gave a face lift to her event planning website to purge it of what I call “blah-blah-blah generic language” and to replace it with more attention-getting examples. And then I go and write that her dinner was “lovely?” Suh-LAP! Continue reading →

Fear of Friday the 13th — and words

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According to a tweet by the OED today, the elusive word for fear of Friday the 13th is (drumroll) triskaidekaphobia. “Its literal meaning is ‘superstition about the number thirteen’, but it’s also used to refer to the specific fear of Friday the 13th.”

There must be many people who love learning these $5 words that actually cost $10, because the Twitterverse is full of them, and many language and word sites revel in them. Look at this weird word! How about this one? Can you figure out what this word means? You know your Latin roots! Come on! Continue reading →

Letters from the Grammarverse: A Difficult Day’s Night

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Dear Ballpoint: My biggest campaign at the moment is to suggest that people use difficult instead of hard when talking of complexity or difficulty; i.e “the biscuit was so hard that it was difficult to eat.”  I fear otherwise we will soon be removing difficult from the dictionary! The difficult thing is, most dictionaries list hard as a valid synonym so I may be fighting a losing battle.

 

This week’s letter brings up a couple of different issues. Only one of them has to do with a traditionalist’s fear that people are losing the distinction between “hard” (as in a surface) and “hard” as a poor substitute for “difficult” when complexity is implied. The danger that we may lose “difficult” as an entire, perfectly good entry in the dictionary is an example of extreme slippery slope-ism. Peeves like this one, though, probably rank as holding on to past lessons way too strongly.

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