I’d love to hear your thoughts on the new project, and please keep those corporate writing peeves coming my way!

Here’s my pet peeve–the misuse of compliment vs. complement. In most cases it’s “compliment” that gets (mis)used–hats are forced to compliment the rest of your clothes, fries compliment burgers, etc.

Even New York magazine drops the ball on this one. The writer could, I suppose, argue that this non-alcoholic cider is a “gesture of affection” toward the hard stuff but either way it’s BAD.

As John notes, a compliment (with an i) is a gesture of affection. A complement enhances something or, to use the dictionary definition, “brings it to perfection.”

Which means that the free mimosa complements your meal (or your morning). Bags complement shoes. I compliment your beauty because, of course, it complements my wit and skill.

What’s your pet peeve?

With so much going on, it’s been harder to chronicle the daily challenges facing writers of corporate communications. So I’m grateful to college pal Jeremy Epstein for providing today’s guest rant:

“I just saw a phrase referring to a variety of colors on a palate; of course, the opposite would be a mix of flavors on your palette or–even worse, but fortunately rarer–colors or flavors on a pallet. At least the latter gives a nice connotation of a forklift unloading a giant shrink-wrapped cluster of cardboard boxes, all filled with colors or flavors. Still annoying though.”

I will be posting more often in coming weeks. Meanwhile, please keep those peeves and whinges coming!

A single letter will turn my precious husband into my previous husband.

Many of us have left the “l” out of at least one public appearance.

The point is, small mistakes matter. Take this example from DamnYouAutocorrect:

What are your worst small mistakes?

The worst work I’ve seen isn’t poorly written–it’s lazy. Language is overly general and stuffed with cliches. Sentence structure is juvenile and/or repetitive.

Here’s an example: “Higman’s Hideout offers fine wines and good food at prices that won’t break the bank. Higman’s has everything you need for a memorable night out.”

This is the literary equivalent of a beer belly: flabby and unappealing. Yet a couple of authentic details–the kind you’d know if, say, you’d been to Higman’s–would turn it around.

I am amazed at the number of emails, brochures, articles and web pages that address the writer’s needs rather than the reader’s. Here are three samples (names changed) from the past week:

“Just wanted to give you a heads up that celebrated infant safety author Paul Blatt will be available for interviews next Tuesday.”

“I’m pleased to announce the opening of our new state-of-the-art facility in Paramus, New Jersey.”

And my favorite: “Great news! We’re changing our name!”

My response to each of these statements was, “Who gives a f***?” followed by a tap of the delete key or slow pitch to the trash can. I’m pretty sure that’s not what the senders had in mind. Next time, maybe they’ll tell me why I should care.

I left a polite message, and quickly received an email from the sales manager saying: “Got your message. Am in the car. Will call shortly.”

No call.

Before leaving the office, I emailed back and asked if we could set a time to talk. I received this missive today:

“Sorry I didn’t call yesterday. I went home sick. This morning I am working from home, but it’s only 5:50 a.m. here in California so I will call you in a few hours. I don’t want to wake my daughter, who hasn’t been feeling well either.”

This made me feel a) guilty for making her return an email so early in the day; b) guilty for somehow almost waking her daughter (I guess they live in a single room?); c) guilty for interrupting her crisis to find out about her employer’s product; most of all, d) annoyed at having been pulled into the personal life of a woman I don’t know.

It’s been about six hours, and guess what? No call. it’s fine, though, because it would be a cold day in hell before I bought anything from this person.

The moral of the story? Getting personal is bad for business.