Monday, August 31, 2009

Chicken Man


"chicken-man" - noun. A census-taker, humorous.
"William Craigie's 'Dictionary of American English', 1940


In an 1881 survey of Britain, residents were asked to provide their "rank, profession or occupation." Some of the more unusual verbatim responses, either entered by the subjects themselves or by interviewers and preserved by the London Genealogical Society included:

-Teacher of Wax Flowers
-Hand in Hartley's Jam
-He play all day long
-Egg-cracker
-Slob Brickmaker
-Emasculator
-Dog Performer
-Sampler of Drugs
-Formerly Fat
-Turnip Shepherd
-Very Feeble
-Proprietor of Midgets
-Gymnast to House Painter
-Knocker-Up of Work People
-Fifty-two Years an Imbecile
-Examiner of Under-Clothing
-Colorist of Artificial Fish
-Supposed to be a lady
-Rust Attendant at Lavatory

And here I am a mere business manager. Dear boss--I don't mean to complain, but could I get my business cards changed? I would REALLY REALLY like to be a Turnip Shepherd from now on. Or a Proprietor of Midgets.

I was gonna be an Examiner of Under Clothing. But my wife said no.

Maybe next year.

by Baron Rackow

Adsense

Roy Williams emailed out a list of 10 things to never do in your advertising. Here are a couple of them...

Here is #4 and #7

4. Never conjure an unpleasant mental image.
Fear and disgust work face-to-face, but they often backfire when used in mass media. Conjure these unpleasant emotions in the minds of the masses and you’ll leave your listeners with a vaguely bad feeling attached to your name. They’ll want to avoid you, but they won’t be able to recall exactly why.

And here is #7... which is a new one I haven't seen before, but you're seeing/hearing ads that break this rule all over the place:

7. Never mention the recession.
I understand how tempting it is to say, “In order to help you combat the recession we’re offering…” But all that really does is remind the customer that now is not a good time to be spending money.

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Don't be distracted by criticism. Remember-the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you. :)