On Radio 4 this morning, announcing a programme that was to follow, the announcer said, “People are reticent to spend …” I was moved to write this correction, not merely because she and others use the wrong word, but because it was a shibboleth.

First, the correction. She should have said “People are reluctant to spend …” Reticent means being reserved in speech, holding back from saying something, being inclined to silence, not wanting to speak.

In the context of her announcement, she clearly meant that people were unwilling to spend. Reluctance means being unwilling or disinclined. The words are slightly similar, but they mean very different things.

Confusing one with the other is quite common, in both senses of the term. It’s an error that many make, so it’s common in that sense. But it is also an indicator of a down-scale language pattern, suggesting poor education and/or social inferiority – being socially common. That’s why it’s a shibboleth, a social gaffe.

A shibboleth is a test word or principle that marks its user as an outsider. The term derives from the Biblical story of the battle between the Gileadites and Ephraimites, which the latter lost. Anyone trying to cross the Gileadite checkpoints was asked to say “Shibboleth”. The Ephraimites could only say “Sibboleth”, which identified them as the enemy, and they were slain.

Since then the term has been used to mean anything that marks a person as a (usually inferior) non-member. In the context of business, especially in the increasingly competitive job market, shibboleths can disqualify candidates from consideration, no matter how able they may otherwise be.

They could be condemned for saying something similar, but incorrect.

For my part, linguistic shibboleths such as the one on Radio 4 this morning make me set aside my reticence and even my reluctance to criticise.  Silence, after all, would be collusion.

Filed under: copywriting, public speaking, speaking, Writing

This morning I tried to buy some sheet music online. I’ve done it before, and expected it to be straightforward. It wasn’t. This was an outfit I had not used before, and will never use again.

First I was sent to a page that was packed with 24 alternatives that I didn’t want, plus various other distractions that got in the way of my intended purchase. Then, when I found the way to the Checkout, I entered my email address, but was asked to provide my home address and all other contact details. All for the sake of a transaction that was less than 3 quid.

Where was the focus of that website? It certainly wasn’t on the customer.

Why subject a casual customer to such an interrogation? It created an irritation, and I simply exited the site. But it didn’t stop there. I received an email telling me I had not completed the purchase, so I returned to the site, looking for a way to cancel the transaction.

I found myself back on the page requiring me to provide full contact details.

In the olden days, a chap could wander into a shop (remember those?), hand over some cash and walk out with the purchase, without having to provide any information about himself, or waste time trying to disentangle himself from them.

Bring back the shop.

I was looking for the business card of a contact I made recently in India, when I realised I had the cards of many people I had totally forgotten. It made me wonder if others were thinking the same about my cards.

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There’s an expression I use to describe the solution to a problem that I suspect is fairly widespread. I call it the Exit Programme. It covers matters as diverse as hordes of incoming mail, bills to be paid, licences to be renewed, and even the dishwasher at home.

The pace at which we live these days means we often do not give the necessary time to deal with matters as they arise, and have to face the consequences. This is sometimes confused with procrastination, but I believe they are two quite distinct malfunctions. With a common solution.

This morning my wife asked me what had happened to the two documents she had placed on the dining table some days ago. They were Warranty Cards for the Canon Camera and accessories that I bought her in Singapore. At first glance they seem to require no action, but careful inspection reveals that they need to be registered online.

Action required! So why had we not acted before? Because it was not clear, at first glance, what had to be done with them, so they were set aside for action later. Once you do that with a document, you are likely to treat it the same way every time you come across it – “Action Later”.

Procrastination is simply avoiding action, whereas Action Later is a positive decision to deal with it later. Deferred action, if you like.

I do that with credit card statements and bills to be paid. Fully intending to pay, but wanting to check them first, I might place them in an overflowing In-Tray, and forget about them until I get a reminder. That’s dangerous because these days late payments could affect your credit rating.

There are other dangers too. My wife couldn’t find her car insurance certificate, and thought she had been driving without insurance for six weeks. Her luck was in, on that occasion, because the policy had been automatically renewed when the insurance company did not hear from her. She had set aside the renewal notice for “action later”, pending alternative quotes.

What we need is an Exit Programme.

When a licence arrives, it should be filed where it can be found when needed.  A bill should be paid immediately or placed where it can be actioned on the one day a week that you set aside for admin. And so on. There has to be a regular and routine procedure for dealing with demands on your attention, a procedure that you follow automatically.  It will avoid bottlenecks.

Think about your dishwasher at home. If the machine is not emptied as soon as the washing is done, the kitchen will soon be overrun with dirty dishes, and you’ll have a larger job to do, probably when you are in a hurry to go out. The Exit Programme ensures that dirty dishes have somewhere to go.

Think about the time you spend looking for something that needs to be found before you can take some action or other, the number of times you have said, “I’m sure it’s here somewhere” as you rummage through piles of paper for the umpteenth time.

An Exit Programme determines the path taken by every demand on your attention, from start to satisfactory conclusion. It allows you to defer action without penalty.  It saves time, it saves energy, it reduces frustration.  Every home should have one.

“There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.”

So said Shakespeare. And it’s a powerful prompt to anyone whose career is stalled, or who is considering a move. It may be a question of timing, but the important point is action.

In this blog I urge you to stop preparing for the journey and actually take off: 

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Rummaging in a kitchen cabinet, I dislodged a jar of peanut butter, which fell towards the floor. Without looking, I caught it deftly in my left hand and placed it back on the shelf.

It reminded me of an incident many years ago, when my friend Maurice was being interviewed for a sales job. He was facing a panel of three, one of whom asked if he would like a cigarette. When Maurice accepted, the man threw him his packet of cigarettes and a box of matches, which did not arrive together.

Maurice easily caught them both and said he knew instinctively, at that moment, that the job was his. As it proved to be. That clever catch was enough to confirm him as a winner.

There are days when everything seems to fit together, when you feel in rhythm with the world around you. Days when you can drop something breakable and catch it before it hits the floor. Days when you can catch whatever is thrown at you, and be in control. Days when you are The Special One.

We all have those days. But perhaps we don’t always recognise them or make the most of the opportunities they present.

Shakespeare wrote, “There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” It’s easy to perceive that at the macro level – the right moment for the Chancellor of the Exchequer to Budget for growth, for the Prime Minister to call a General Election, for London to bid for the Olympics..

But it applies equally on the micro level—days when you are in tune with the energy around you, when you are on form, when others respond well to you. Those are the days to go for it, to take a chance, to change jobs or start a new business, knowing that you cannot fail.

On those days when the signs are good, be bold.

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Certain grammatical and spelling errors scream loudly at employers and almost automatically disqualify applicants.

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Every business sector has tightened its belt in the last few years during our most recent economic recession. Jobs openings are becoming increasingly difficult to find, and the amount of qualified applicants swarming for each opening means you can no longer rely on the strength of your credentials alone to get your foot in the door.

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Some years ago, I had an office in central London. One lunchtime I was walking down the street when I came face to face with the famous head of a TV Channel. He made eye contact and looked, for a split second, like he wanted to speak.

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