The Professor's Terrible Trip

I got an email this morning from Professor GR Batho. He sounded very distressed. But thankfully he had time to write me a couple of paragraphs and explain his predicament. I've never met the Professor, but I like that he feels he can write to me, a man he doesn't know, and ask for help. The Professor clearly has a lot of trust in people.

Here's the email:

Subject: My Terrible Trip........ Gordon Batho

I really hope you get this fast. I could not inform anyone about our trip, because it was impromptu. we had to be in Madrid , Spain for a program. The program was successful, but our journey has turned sour. we misplaced our wallet and cell phone on our way back to the hotel we lodge in after we went for sight seeing. The wallet contained all the valuables we had. Now, our passport is in custody of the hotel management pending when we make payment.

I am sorry if i am inconveniencing you, but i have only very few people to run to now. i will be indeed very grateful if i can get a loan of 2,720 Euro from you. this will enable me sort our hotel bills and get my sorry self back home. I will really appreciate whatever you can afford in assisting me with. I promise to refund it in full as soon as I return. let me know if you can be of any assistance. Please, let me know soonest. Thanks so much..

I think my favourite thing about this email is its subject. If my journey to Madrid had turned sour and I'd misplaced my wallet and cell phone and hotel management had taken my passport until I paid them lots of Euros and all I could think to do was email someone I'd never met to ask for a loan, I think I'd give my email a serious subject: one that highlights the graveness of the situation.

I probably wouldn't give it a short story title. That makes me think someone's pulling my leg.

Jargon?

I wrote a piece for Design Week a while back. It was about jargon in the creative industry. Terms like copy and iteration. I heard from quite a few people who agreed with my argument - that we need to make sure we only use this sort of language when we know a reader/listener will understand it ie most of the time, we should avoid it. But some people argued that these terms aren't jargon - they're industry terms.

It's a fair point. Sometimes, these terms aren't jargon. If two people who use them both understand them and know each other understands them, they're fine. As long as they don't start using them outside that environment. And as long as someone from outside that environment doesn't hear them. Because then they become jargon.

I read an article on SMEWEB earlier about the language of pensions:

'The research results also shows that more than half (57 per cent) say that sometimes pensions seem so complicated they can’t understand the best options available, while one in three people are putting off thinking about saving for retirement because they find pensions confusing.'

The article says this is down to 'jargon'.

And that's the problem with jargon. It excludes, it confuses, it can make people feel stupid. I bet the people writing pension information aren't going for hugely technical language. They're probably just using the terms they'd use with each other, inside the big pension factory, where all the pension people get together and talk about pensions.

But they shouldn't use those terms when they're talking to people outside that world. People like you and me. Because we don't understand them. We just want to know how to put money away for the future.

The Big European Travel Adventure...

Two years ago, I'd just finished travelling around Britain by the light of the full moon. That idea came to me first in 2007, when I thought it'd be fun to do something a bit different. I didn't do anything about it at the time. Then a girlfriend dumped me and I ended up living back home with my parents and life stalled - so I made it happen.

Every full moon of 2009, I decided I'd hop in my car and travel to somewhere in Britain that had lunar connections, then throw myself into any situation I could.

During that year, I spent a lot of time researching places I didn't know and discovering fascinating facts about them. And at one point, I spotted something that gave me another idea that, one day, would give me another excuse to travel and do daft things. It was clearly a sign:

The idea was 'Twin Town'. The one day arrives in the spring.

In April, I'll throw off the shackles (and income) of work, hop in a car, cross the Channel, arrive in France and probably think Eek, this is a much bigger challenge than I imagined. Then I'll head to my first twinned town. I'll spend the next couple of months hopping between twins, asking questions, snooping around and getting into some sticky situations (that my mix of English and GCSE French will hopefully rescue me from).

What's a twin town? To people in Europe, it's a place twinned with another place, either in Europe or further afield. (If you're American, you'd call it a sister city.)

What does that mean and why does it happen?

I've got three months, from today, to do all the research I can about twinning. I want to know why it started, whose idea it was, how popular it is, who's involved, does it help and build relationships or has it run out of steam? Then, for a couple of months in the spring, I'm off to learn more first-hand.

But before that happens, I need your help.


Thank you
Sam, Caroline and Mark from Fabric, for the beautiful mark and typography (above) and helping make it work online.