No-nonsense words from Forthwrite

Home
Archive
About
Things can only get better. That's what things (almost) always do
Let's start the new year with some cold, hard facts about the world we travel in. Warning: pessimistic readers may want to look away now
 • 
Mark Jones

March 2023

The best proposal we've read all year
The challenge: get your parents to buy you a tortoise. The solution: a PowerPoint deck, naturally
 • 
Mark Jones

January 2023

The real Mad Men say a long farewell.
As the last agency on Madison Avenue turn the lights out, we look at the (almost) lost art of the long-copy ad
 • 
Mark Jones

December 2022

A lesson in Football English for people who hate football
The world's most popular sport has inevitably had an impact on is most popular language. Even business jargon is not immune
 • 
Mark Jones
6

October 2022

A smack on the bot
I wrote some reports. Then they were put through a 'readability' engine. What happened next?
 • 
Mark Jones
2

August 2022

And the hotel copywriting prize goes to... Georgia
In the second part of our summer travel writing clinics, we get wowed by a House style
 • 
Mark Jones
1

July 2022

When travel copy becomes sickening
An over-the-top press release about a luxury hotel gets us thinking about the language of excess
 • 
Mark Jones
5

May 2022

Passive partygoers and active shooters
One story is a seemingly trivial one about parties. The second is about another deadly shooting in America. But both tell us why the words we choose and…
 • 
Mark Jones
Pride, Archbishops and German football managers
Some things we’ve noticed about writing and English this week
 • 
Mark Jones

February 2022

Some words about freedom
Ottawa, Ukraine and what happens when words get out of proportion
 • 
Mark Jones
The rise and (probable) fall of smart casual writing
How business English came to mirror the prevalent dress code of the developed world in the 21st century – and why it's now in danger
 • 
Mark Jones

December 2021

A storm of words
An unBritish weather event shows how language can make a bad situation worse
 • 
Mark Jones
© 2024 Mark Jones, Kerry Smith and David Kean
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture