Heather Candon, Author at Words by a Pro https://old.wordsbyapro.com/author/heather-candon/ Thu, 13 Oct 2016 19:59:36 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/cropped-WBP-FAVICON_7-32x32.jpg Heather Candon, Author at Words by a Pro https://old.wordsbyapro.com/author/heather-candon/ 32 32 The Evolution of the Singular Pronoun “They” https://old.wordsbyapro.com/the-evolution-of-the-singular-pronoun-they/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-evolution-of-the-singular-pronoun-they Wed, 16 Mar 2016 00:30:02 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=1624 In a case of grammatical form following function, the American Dialect Society voted “they”, used as a gender-neutral singular pronoun, as 2015’s word of the year. The selection may have some traditionalists clutching their pearls, but the recognition validates the singular pronoun’s utility and reflects our shifting social landscape. Truth in Language Language is a […]

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]]> Explaining New Media to My Dad https://old.wordsbyapro.com/explaining-new-media-to-my-dad/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=explaining-new-media-to-my-dad Tue, 22 Dec 2015 17:46:20 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=1542 More than a few times over the past year, in the midst of going down an Internet rabbit hole, I’ve wondered what my dad would make of all this. A world of information at my fingertips; searches that beget endless questions. He still had dial-up when he died. The pixelated outer space sound would ping […]

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]]> Timing Your Social Media Posts https://old.wordsbyapro.com/timing-your-social-media-posts/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=timing-your-social-media-posts Tue, 03 Nov 2015 21:14:42 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=1440 As they say, timing is everything. The second hand of an increasingly anachronistic analog clock ticks through each moment of our lives and stops for no one. There are the occasions where we wish we could will time to move faster and just as many that leave us wondering in dismay where it all went. […]

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]]> Making Inroads With Millennials https://old.wordsbyapro.com/making-inroads-with-millennials/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=making-inroads-with-millennials https://old.wordsbyapro.com/making-inroads-with-millennials/#comments Tue, 22 Sep 2015 20:26:53 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=1329 There’s been much ado about the millennial generation for the past few years. Whether decrying the cohort’s fondness for selfies or analyzing its symbiotic relationship with mobile devices and the Internet, there’s a glut of judgments and think pieces that attempt to define the attitudes and behavior of those born between 1980 and the early […]

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]]> https://old.wordsbyapro.com/making-inroads-with-millennials/feed/ 1 How to Hashtag https://old.wordsbyapro.com/how-to-hashtag/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-hashtag https://old.wordsbyapro.com/how-to-hashtag/#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2015 21:39:01 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=1296 Social media has reinvented the phone’s pound sign, giving birth to the now ubiquitous ‘hashtag.’ If you immediately understand what I’m referring to, you have one-up on my mother. Despite the barrage of TV ads referencing the hashtag and the fact that it’s been clickable since 2009, my mom has no idea what one is […]

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]]> https://old.wordsbyapro.com/how-to-hashtag/feed/ 1 Goldfish vs. Humans https://old.wordsbyapro.com/goldfish-vs-humans/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=goldfish-vs-humans Tue, 21 Jul 2015 19:49:56 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=1247 Last week I was riding the 7 train uptown from Grand Central a few hours after the morning rush. There were no strap-hangers, but most of the seats were occupied. I couldn’t help but observe my fellow riders, the majority of whom were engaged with the small screen before them. A car full of necks […]

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]]> The Dream of a Common Language https://old.wordsbyapro.com/the-dream-of-a-common-language/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-dream-of-a-common-language Tue, 16 Jun 2015 12:13:28 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=1174 It may be a familiar trope in crime stories, but having a dead body in the trunk is a lousy selling point for an automobile. When Ford launched its ad campaign in Belgium, they wanted buyers to appreciate their excellent manufacturing and came up with the slogan “Every car has a high-quality body.” However translated […]

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]]> Tell Me a Story https://old.wordsbyapro.com/tell-me-a-story/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tell-me-a-story Tue, 26 May 2015 15:43:47 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=1145 I was twenty when the overwhelming urge to head to the Southwest struck. I was a junior in college, living on a tiny island off the coast of Maine, and I was hungry to explore the alien landscape of slickrock and sandstone, to see arches and mesas and unimaginable rock formations with my own eyes. […]

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]]> Do Not Sleep with Your Hairdryer! (And Other Strange Warnings) https://old.wordsbyapro.com/do-not-sleep-with-your-hairdryer-and-other-strange-warnings/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=do-not-sleep-with-your-hairdryer-and-other-strange-warnings Tue, 21 Apr 2015 17:13:12 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=1098 My father was a bit of a joker when I was a kid. “They’re coming to get you!” he’d say at the sound of police sirens in the distance. I developed a Pavlovian response to law enforcement and an excessive respect for authority as a result of his chiding. A look back on all of […]

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]]> A Case for Keeping It Real https://old.wordsbyapro.com/a-case-for-keeping-it-real/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-case-for-keeping-it-real Tue, 31 Mar 2015 20:23:07 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=1065 Epic fail. Literally the best. The most amazing. The absolute worst. These superlative descriptions are best reserved for, respectively, the sinking of the Titanic, invention of the wheel, the Great Pyramid of Giza and the 1918 flu pandemic. Today, it’s hard to know where you stand when something as minor as burnt toast can be […]

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