Writer's Block

On the shelf or in a boardroom, words help us assess the value of competing products and services. But two intriguing corporate trends, emerging in tandem, are challenging our reliance on words to make consumer choices and measure corporate success. In this issue, Tracy Pomerinke explores the advertising world’s abandonment of text in favour of graphical icons while Jeff Leiper examines the ambiguous language of business and its role in the dot-com meltdown.

Ring in the new year with Miss Hoopty and Delilah in our new approach to Origins.

	Advertising Alchemy Tracy Pomerinke takes a closer look at the new advertising alchemy that is being practised in corporate boardrooms. The new alchemy does not apply elemental magic, but market analysis, and its success depends not on the movement of planets, but on a loyal base of consumers
	Corporatespeak Deconstructing the New Language of Business Journalist Jeff Leiper finds links between Orwell’s linguistic hegemony and the purposeful ambiguity of business language. Has rhetoric curtailed the full potential of the Internet?
	Into the Looking Glass Shifting Language Is a Reflection of Our Times Shifting language is a reflection of our times. Our renewed focus on security, terrorism, and the potential for global war means less time for the niceties of language. Can political correctness survive our post September 11th reality?
	The Spirit of Writing: Classic and Contemporary Essays Celebrating the Writing Life Lorie Boucher reviews Mark Robert Waldman’s collection of essays on writing.
	Introducing Miss Hoopty and Delilah Origins has two new divas.
	Ad Blimp over Ottawa A poem by Seymour Mayne.