Gandhi versus Gandalf
Do this quick BBC online quiz. Do you know “who said” these sentences? Was it the great Mahatma Gandhi or Gandalf (a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien’s novels).
A magic word
You’re probably doing this already, but if not you might like to consider giving this a try.
When you want someone to take action, give a reason. Explain why.
Harvard psychologist Ellen Lange tested the power of this word by asking to cut in front of people waiting in line at a copy machine. She tried using three different questions:
- “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the xerox machine?”
- “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the xerox machine because I’m in a rush?”
- “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the xerox machine because I have to make some copies?” (Please note that this reason was a rather useless one!)
Of those asked, 60 per cent let her jump the line using the first question. But when she added the “because,” 94 percent and 93 percent, respectively, accepted.
Read on: http://jamesclear.com/copy-machine-study
Saying ‘no’
Perhaps we don’t like saying ‘no’ because we want to be helpful and don’t want to hurt our image. However, we know that it’s important to use this two-letter word sometimes. So let’s learn eight ways how to say ‘no’ without feeling guilty.
This is a nice response if someone doesn’t want to take ‘no’ for an answer: “I’m sorry to disappoint you. One of my goals for this year is to improve my ability to say no. You are a tough audience. I suppose it’s good practice…”
And here’s a sentence I might use from time to time: “I’m not qualified to do what you’re asking, but I know someone who might be helpful”. In fact, I used this one a week or so ago!
How much and how many?
A lot of people don’t know when to use ‘how much’ and when to use ‘how many’. I find that it’s been nicely explained here (link to: grammar.cl). Read the rules and then test yourself here.
France
Kwintessential’s guides are great when you need to do a bit of quick research on the culture, customs, manners, etiquette and values of people from other countries. Let’s take a closer look at France today (link to: kintessential.co.uk).
Would you agree with me that learning about other cultures can help us understand how people in other regions live and think? I think it’s a valuable exercise.
A little bit too podgy?
A woman found her husband standing on the bathroom scales, pulling in his stomach.
“Ha, ha,” she said. “That’s not going to help you one bit”.
“It does,” he said. “It’s the only way I can see the numbers”.
