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Entries Tagged as 'Word'

Jargon

December 14th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We continue to use too much jargon. Are we illiterate or just too lazy to type words? I am reviewing materials for a certification. Gosh, I am too old for this, but whatever. I won’t mention the name of the certification. I you continue reading this post, you can probably guess which […]

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Tags: Brevity · Clarity · Communication · Conversation · Word · Writing

Liars (Mean and Otherwise)

November 9th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Once again, the world swings into yet another crisis. Many persons with good intentions intend to reduce the crisis by limiting what other persons can say and write about it. Nothing new here. We used to have silly liars. The National Enquirer is one great example. Hillary Clinton had an alien baby […]

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Tags: Ethics · History · Thinking · Trust · Word · Writing

Nouns and Verbs

September 18th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Back to a basic: write with nouns and verbs. It brings us closer to brevity and clarity. Those are pretty good places to be. I was reminded of this short and powerful writing tip this past week. And yes, it was from Strunk and White. They used the title of the post […]

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Tags: Communication · Information · Language · Review · Word · Writing

Not a Writer (?)

September 11th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Are you not a writer? Really. Just type the words you say. “You must understand, Dwayne, you are a writer,” several people over the years. Yes, I am cursed or blessed to be “a writer.” What do I do? I put my fingers on the keyboard and type the words that come […]

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Tags: Communication · Technology · Thinking · Tools · Word · Writing

BYOD

August 24th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips BYOD or Bring Your Own Data is a big deal. It has been in computing since the start of computing. Nothing new here folks, but it is still important. Everyone is a data scientist (sort of). Everyone works for a data-centric organization (sort of). Data is the new oil (sort of). Data […]

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Tags: Communication · Computing · Data Science · Information · Language · Software · Technology · Word

Symbolic AI, Machine Learning, and Cows

May 18th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The old ways of doing AI are still better than some of the new ways in some cases. The answer, of course, is to combine the best of all to do something better. Feed the following into a chatbot: “The cow jumped” The chatbot will finish with “over the moon.” That is […]

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Tags: Artificial Intelligence · General Systems Thinking · Knowledge · Language · Learning · Machine Learning · Word

The Right Word and the Wrong Word

August 4th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips It is important to use the right or correct word and avoid using the wrong word. This is an old fundamental in writing and speaking. Why am I writing about this? Because I continue to encounter professionals who make this error often. What is the right word and the wrong word? Consider […]

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Tags: Choose · Communication · Fatigue · Vocabulary · Word · Writing

The Boy Who Cried Wolf and Other Tales of Adulthood in the 2020s

June 9th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Please, choose words wisely so that actions will match the words. Yesterday, I was hit with a couple of examples of the Aesop’s fable. The trouble was, these were real life, and a boy wasn’t crying—it was adults jabbering nonsense. I won’t repeat the examples. There is something about these crying-wolf examples […]

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Tags: Expectations · Fable · Honesty · Integrity · Management · Word

Okay, Write Those Words

December 20th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips For some reason, we often run away from the words that we want most to convey. I work with persons who are trying to write. They show me their draft, we talk, we walk through the words, and I ask questions. The questions usually lead to grimaces and twisted expressions, struggled breathing, […]

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Tags: Adults · Brevity · Clarity · Communication · Word · Writing

Chimney, Orange, and Odd Connections

July 19th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The words “chimney” and “orange” rhyme, well, sort of, maybe not, but they are certainly connected. In English, there is no word that rhymes with “orange.” At least that is what I have read. I’m not sure about that. I have heard the same about the word “chimney,” but once again I […]

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Tags: General Systems Thinking · Observation · Reality · Systems · Thinking · Word