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A funny gesture?
“I use to get jewelry and a print or something they made . It was a nice jester.”
This is a comment I spotted on social media recently in response to a request for some gift ideas. It took me a moment to realise that ‘jester’ was meant to be ‘gesture’, but then it all made sense.
I must admit this is not a pair of words I had thought of as spelling options before, but I now know they can be confused so here are the meanings…
jester [noun]: a person who entertains, especially in medieval times, and often does so through silly behaviours. Also known as a fool, a jester often wears a funny hat with bells hanging from it.
The King laughed as he watched the jester before dinner.
gesture [noun]: a movements of limbs, head or body to express an emotion or thought.
A nod of the head is a gesture of approval.
The key thing I can see that may help you know which word to use is the relationship between jest (to joke or laugh) and jester.
How not to start an email
I just received some spam which started with:
You are receiving this email becasue we wish you to use our Website Design Services.
Did someone really think that approach was going to win them any business? They went on to explain about their company and what they offer (so say their subheadings anyway – I didn’t read it!) but frankly who cares?
What’s wrong with this opening?
- there is no attempt to be polite or engage me as a human being, let alone being personal
- there is no attempt to gain my interest
- there is no attempt to show any understanding of my issues, let alone suggestions of how they can help solve them
- they didn’t even take enough time to check the spelling in the first line of their email! How can I trust their attention to detail?
- they attempt to further their importance by using capital letters when describing their services – unnecessary capitals of course
- and the big one – how does what they wish have any relevance to me or me receiving unwanted emails?
So when starting emails, remember it is a person reading it so write to them!
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