Hallmark

One day, I will tell my four-year-old son that “there’s no place like home” and he will think I’m a genius.

The rest of you, however, will feel a sudden and overwhelming urge to pummel me in the face with a box of Hallmark cards and smugly present me with a “get well soon” card from the same batch.

But why are we taught to avoid clichés like the plague? What’s wrong with using the odd well-worn phrase?

Continue reading "Avoid this cliche-ridden column like the plague" »

In the pantheon of lame annual days of celebration, Mother’s Day is right alongside Father’s Day, Festivus, Talk Like a Pirate Day, and Love Day (which was made famous by The Simpsons). 

Let’s face it, if it weren’t for the marketing departments of Hallmark, the Chrysanthemum Growers Association, Breville and whoever puts together Human Nature’s Mother’s Day albums, Mother’s Day would never have gotten off the ground.

That is my firm an unwavering view. Or, it was my firm and unwavering view up until I became a mother.

Continue reading "Mother’s Day: Ignore anything she said before giving birth" »