We used to talk about chairmen, spokesmen, policemen and policewomen, fishermen, manpower, mankind, the man in the street and so on.

Today, we prefer gender-neutral or gender-inclusive language. This means using alternatives for words or terms containing “man” when we mean people of all genders.

So instead of:                use:
man-made                     manufactured, artificial
mankind                         humankind
manpower                     personnel, staff, workers
the man in the street   the average person
best man for the job    best person for the job
to man                            to operate, to staff
man hours                      person hours
layman                            layperson, non-specialist
chairman                        chairperson
policeman/-woman     police officer
firemen                           firefighters
fishermen                       fishers
tradesman                      tradesperson
craftsman                       craftsperson
materinity/paternity
leave                                parenthood leave

It’s now widely accepted to use they and the associated pronouns, even when talking about a word in the singular, as the following examples show.

Gender-discriminatory language:
“A small business owner needs to know how his products, services and marketing strategy compare to local, regional, national and international competitors.”

Gender-sensitive language:
“A small business owner needs to know how their products, services and marketing strategy compare to local, regional, national and international competitors.”

It’s important that we treat people with respect—and that means also paying attention to the language we use.

“Like success, failure is many things to many people. With positive mental attitude, failure is a learning experience, a rung on the ladder, and a plateau at which to get your thoughts in order to prepare to try again.”
W. Clement Stone

We have an English saying that goes, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again”.

This reminds me that we can fail, but we are not failures! And that each failure brings us one step closer to success.

We just need perseverance, persistence and patience!

“In the word question, there is a beautiful word – quest. I love that word.”
Elie Weisel, Romanian-born American writer, professor and political activist

A quest is “a long search for something that is difficult to find or an attempt to achieve something difficult”, according to the Cambridge Dictionary. Or it’s “a journey made in search of something”, according to Merriam-Webster.

Some of the questions I ask in my “Colourful Conversations” group send participants on a quest or inner journey to find the answers. And discussing with others does not only increase conversational skills, it can also help us get a clearer perspective on what it is that we truly care about.

Questions like:
When was the last time you thought, “I really did that well?”
What new habits do I want to form and reinforce?
If you were to try something new and daring, what would it be?
Where do you feel most at home?

It’s amazing to see where the answers take us!

Why do I send out my Sparks to you from Monday to Friday?

It’s because I believe, if you want to improve, you need to do something on a regular basis. You need to be consistent.

And my Sparks are there to remind you to do something in English every single day. That’s if you really want to grow your language skills.

What else can help us to stick to a routine? Especially if we’re finding it difficult to be consistent.

We can print out one of these free printable calendars. And every time we do something (write a few lines in our diary, for example), or we don’t do something (not had any sugar all day, for example), we place a big cross over the day we achieved what we wanted to achieve.

The idea is not to break the chain. Because we know that doing something consistently is more important than going all-out once a week or so.

As the saying goes, “Slowly but surely wins the race”.

RhymeZone is a rhyming dictionary and thesaurus that can help us look for rhymes, synonyms, antonyms and so much more.

Let me start with an example.

I wrote the word “conversation” in the little box provided, clicked on “Find rhymes” and then on the “Search” button—and a long list of rhyming words appeared on my screen.

Words like: nation, station, carnation, creation, frustration, celebration, abbreviation, acclimatisation, antidiscrimination, institutionalisation, philosophy of education, international organisation, original video animation, american medical association, and so on.

I then activated the “Find lyrics and poems” button, and this time a long list of lyrics and poems appeared.

One example I liked was from “Day of the Locusts” by Bob Dylan:

“Oh, the benches were stained with tears and perspiration,
The birdies were flying from tree to tree.
There was little to say, there was no conversation
As I stepped to the stage to pick up my degree.”

I have no idea if this tool can help you in any way. If you write your own poems or lyrics, it might.

But you might just like to add a word yourself and see what you come up with. There’s a lot to explore.

I had a lot of fun. I think you might, too!

I love this definition of marketing from Derek Sivers:

“Don’t confuse the word “marketing” with advertising, announcing, spamming, or giving away branded crap.

Really, “marketing” just means being considerate.

Marketing means making it easy for people to notice you, relate to you, remember you, and tell their friends about you.

Marketing means listening for what people need, and creating something surprisingly tailored for them.

Marketing means getting to know people, making a deeper connection, and keeping in touch.”

Something to ponder on!