Write like you mean it
Like you mean it. This trendy expression has popped up in advertising and social media like a plague of mushrooms. Purists – let’s forget for a minute that many would correct it to “as if you mean it.” The worst thing about it is the implication. If you don’t do what the ad tells you, you’re a slacker.
So how can you make sure to do everything like you mean it?
Eat like you mean it
Stuff an obscene amount of meat, bread, cheese, and drippy sauce into your mouth all at once. Anything else is phoning it in. A reasonable amount of food you can eat like a civilized person is – well – eating like you don’t mean it. (By the way, that model is just pretending to mean it.)
Vacation like you mean it
Take your family to an expensive theme park instead of going camping. For the same amount of money you could take them all to Europe … but then your children would grow up emotionally scarred. Picture them years later in handcuffs, being interviewed on Dateline. “My parents took me to Paris and Firenze, but they didn’t mean it.”
Shop like you mean it
Go to the biggest mall you can find and load yourself down with bags of designer clothing and shoes. Put it all on your maxed-out credit cards and worry about it tomorrow. And for Pete’s sake, don’t patronize small, local businesses where no one will see you carrying those high-end shopping bags. No exposure there. What’s the point?
If doing everything with total commitment and gusto is such a good thing, there should be signs in gyms that say Exercise like you mean it. How about libraries? Read like you mean it. And this one should come with every personal computer:
Write like you mean it
Re-read and correct. Spell-check. Look things up. Verify facts. Cut excessive modifiers and prepositions. Use active verbs. Avoid clichés, jargon, and buzzwords. Use an editor.
Much of what we read online and in periodicals is so poorly written it’s shocking. Misspelled words, typos, factual errors, unsupported opinions. Not just the crazies who comment and rant, but the sources we rely on for news. Public figures and professionals seem to have forgotten how to write.
In a social climate of rampant intolerance, all factions seem to agree on one thing. If you publish mistakes (or even lies) and someone catches them, you can always say …
… I didn’t mean it.
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