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fair-dinkum-mechanic · 4 years

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I’m gonna put this here because I’ve sat on it for far too long, and for what? To protect someone who absolutely has not and will not do the same for me?

If any of you remember me, you’ll remember I was in a long term relationship that was very publicly spoken about when I was active on my Tumblr. Over a year ago now, that ended, as was way overdue. My own issues and insecurities clouded my judgement and made me desperately want to cling to something that was so unhealthy, toxic, and borderline abusive. And I haven’t wanted to say those words because I’ve felt like it’s overdramatic or a complete fabrication of my mind. It’s not, though. It never was.

Things were fine at the start, really good. Gradually, though, things became all about what he wanted and while he said he would never, ever make me choose between him and other things in my life that is EXACTLY what he ended up doing. He wanted honesty, he wanted open communication, something which I agreed with and carried out. If something uncomfortable was happening, I would speak up and tell him straight up. When my mum said she wanted us to break up, I told him that’s what was said. I didn’t tell him the reason, though. I didn’t tell him it was because my friends, and friends parents, had told her they were worried about the relationship because of angry and aggressive behaviour they had seen him display. They were worried about things that I had said in passing, not even meaning to suggest there was an issue.

I witnessed violence and anger for the entire 6 year period I was in my relationship. I witnessed shouting, objects being thrown at the floor, at the walls, at animals, at other people’s property. Animals were hit, kicked, thrown. I didn’t want to admit it, because I didn’t want to have the anger directed at me, but I was scared. I was terrified. I was honestly, really, really afraid. What did I do, though? I never said “it’s okay” I made a point to never say those words, because it wasn’t. I still provided comfort, though. I still went along and pretended it never happened.

I was by no means an angel in the relationship, though. I made my fair share of horrible mistakes. I cheated. I was closed off many times. Sometimes I could’ve compromised more, but didn’t. And while those are all horrible things that never should’ve happened, I can see why and how they happened. One of the factors being that I was young and it was my first relationship, and I’ve learned through those mistakes. I was open and spoke about these issues and we worked through them together, and I actively worked hard to make amends and ensure they wouldn’t happen again. I thought that was cool, but apparently it wasn’t. Anytime anything would go wrong, those mistakes and issues were brought up as if they hadn’t been resolved. As if the words “It’s okay, I promise” were never spoken. ANY transgression I made in that relationship was filed away and catalogued for whenever he needed to ensure I was at fault. Whenever he wanted something, or didn’t want to take accountability, SOME mistake I made was brought up and used as the sole reason anything went wrong.

This is the abuse. Already in a fragile place, with undiagnosed BPD which was causing so many issues, none of us knowing why, especially me at the time, he twisted and guilted me into truly believing I was demanding, controlling, manipulative, and annoying. All of which I believed and all of which made my mental state spiral further and further down, which in turn exacerbated the issues giving him more fuel to use against me if he ever needed.

Never ONCE was an issue brought to my attention. Not ONCE did he approach me before punishing me for a perceived slight against him.

Which brought us to the breakup. I was crushed. After years and years of this, I truly believed that if he left nobody else would ever love me again. Part of me is still trying to let that belief go, it’s so deeply ingrained. When all became hopeless I just needed an escape. I didn’t exactly want to die, but I just wanted to pain to stop. I couldn’t handle it anymore. I ended up in hospital 4 times. The first time, my best friend rang him up and he snapped at her, telling her “I can’t deal with this, you deal with it I’m at work” to which her sister screamed “YOU FUCKING DEAL WITH IT YOU FUCKING CHILD”

Unfortunately, this only further enabled him to create this “manipulative, toxic, controlling ex” narrative that he had decided was the best way to deflect responsibility. I had to be placed into a healthcare facility for 2 weeks, with limited visiting, compulsory checks every hour, and strict routines. DURING MY STAY HERE this man had begun spreading the idea that I was doing all of this to guilt him into staying with me. That I had ridden in an ambulance twice, been taken away from everything I know and love for longer than I ever had, to encourage my abuse to continue.

What made it worse for me was that... some of my very close friends believed it. I don’t know why, or how, and it still hurts and haunts me because I had tried to explain how I was feeling to them, but it didn’t matter. I’d already become a villain in their minds. Even writing this all out I feel like “maybe I’m lying to myself?” or “is this just a way for me to manipulate the situation?”, but i KNOW that’s not true, because people who do those things don’t CARE if they’re doing it, and I care immensely. I don’t WANT to manipulate, I don’t WANT to lie. I just want the fucking truth and for accountability to be taken. I’ve taken accountability for all of my actions, no matter how ugly they were. I did it. End of story. It’s not good, there’s no excuse, and I need to work at regaining trust and never doing those things again, that’s on me and no one else.

If there’s one thing I’ve been able to do later in life, it’s stay true to my values. For a while, I was made to feel dirty, wrong, and selfish for it. Because I didn’t ‘feel’ the correct way or I didn’t have the ‘correct love language’.

If I didn’t express the emotion he wanted from me, or say the things he wanted me to say, he would silently try and manipulate those reactions from me. To which I never obliged. I don’t operate that way. I very much need someone to speak up and be direct with what they want from me. If it’s within my values and ability, and if I WANT to, I will do that. I won’t say “It’s going to be okay :)” if I can’t promise that! If I don’t genuinely believe that it will be! I won’t lie!

There’s so much wrong with what happened last year, and I have born the brunt of other people’s selfish, inconsiderate, and unfortunately misguided views, and at the end of the day I can only control my own actions.

What I know to be true: I genuinely like people, and I want to help them smile and laugh, and love themselves. I care deeply for many things, and I love very deeply. - these are all true and they will not change.

What I also know to be true: I didn’t ask for the mental and emotional abuse, but it is up to me to recover and grow from it. I cannot control how others act or what others believe. I can only hold on to what I know is true. Anger, and accusations, I cannot control, unless they are my own. I just ask, please, please, do not believe that everyone is who they portray themselves as online. Most abusive people that I have seen in my life have blogs, feeds, and profiles that are full of positivity, activism, good causes, humour, and cute pictures. Please. As someone who has suffered through this, and continues to try his best to recover and become a whole, healthy person again, please don’t buy into it. There’s so much more to say but I’ve rambled on enough. I’m just hoping things get better and that the future is brighter for everyone. I am working so hard to better myself, and I have come so so far in only a year. I drive now, I have kept up my gym habit with one of my very best friends, I’m going through weekly DBT, I work in new places with fun new people that I get to meet and experience new things with, and I am slowly relearning my worth as a person, and as a potential partner.

At the end of the day, no matter how I was wronged, and how I was manipulated and portrayed, I am so, SO much better off without him in my life and I do not miss him at all. I can do so much better, and I will do so much better. I’m lonely, but I’m wlling to be lonely until the right one comes along. I will not settle for second best again. And that’s what he was.

#ooft

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korrasera · 5 years

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If I sound angry about authoritarian beliefs, it's because I am. I've been taken in by them before and I have formed my opinions about authoritarianism after trying to learn why I'd would ever agree with it. I have very personal reasons for not liking this stuff.

So here's an example.

Being taught to be afraid so that you can hate people is antithetical to my nature because I have internalized a set of beliefs cobbled together from comic books and fairy tales in order to keep myself alive. Beliefs like how we should try to help everyone and how people are precious and how there need not be conflict between people even if everyone we don't all need to be friends.

I used to have nightmares when I was a girl. Some films really scared me, films like Ghostbusters or Gremlins. And sometimes, combined with a brain that was rapidly learning how to disassociate to deal with emotional trauma, I would have really bad nightmares about the things I saw on TV. So I started making friends with them. I would daydream about myself and Gizmo being able to convince Stripe to stop hurting people and he'd see the truth of what we said and he'd join us and we'd go off and do something heroic. When I woke up screaming about Slimer one night, I did the same thing. We made friends and went off to fight other fights and save other people.

So waking up one day to realize I'd been treating someone like shit or being hateful because I was afraid? It was a little like realizing I was one of those monsters from my childhood nightmares, only I was real.

It almost happened to me again after I finally came out to myself as transgender. I almost wound up being a truscum.

As I was slowly constructing my own views of gender, cataloguing all of the information I was pouring through with an eight hour a day crash course on what being trans meant, I noticed there were people who were using really odd (to me) pronouns. People who were saying they didn't feel like I did. And instead of trying to understand why they'd say that, my brain immediately lept to the idea that they were being trendy.

You see, I was afflicted. I was the one in pain, the one in real pain! I was suffering. And here someone else was going to come along and claim to be like me, to elicit sympathy from other people like me, but they were doing it to feel more popular? Talk about offense. I had gotten to the point where I was really building up to this argument that you could appropriate trans people's identities, just like the way that porn had exploited us for our bodies.

But then I started paying attention. I read blogs where happy trans people used pronouns I didn't get and went through experiences I didn't have, but still had the same big questions to ask themselves about what being trans meant about who they were. So yeah, someone doesn't have dysphoria, but this part of their biography where being trans just made everything click? I got that. When I saw someone write a short description of why they used a set of nounself pronouns I'd never heard of before, I saw a person talking about the complexity of expressing themselves after a lifetime of being told they didn't exist.

My opinion slid to 'some transtrenders might suck but there are also plenty of young (chronological and figurative) trans people in that community' really quickly, until any attempt to hold onto the 'trendy' aspect just faded away. And no matter how I looked at it, I came back to the same basic idea, every single time:

They're transgender people and the only reason they get called transtrenders or tucutes is so people who are ignorant and afraid can sell us on the idea that they're acceptable targets. It's not the young trans people that are the problem, it's the fear and ignorance of transmedicalists that's the problem.

So yeah. That's my story about how I almost wound up becoming a truscum.

It sucked to realize I was letting fear turn me into a monster. I got better.

#korrasrsly

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xseildnasterces · 3 years

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maps.

I just had the sweetest phone call. H and I were texting about meeting up tomorrow and then she said F had asked if she could call me. Seeing her little face lighten up when she saw me was so cute! I really do adore her. She was showing me her little owl teddies and telling me how much she liked me nails. She was excited about us meeting up tomorrow and we all really miss each other because we spent so much time together the other week it feels weird not seeing each other all the time! We are all so excited about our next trip which is really not that long off. I cannot wait. A while ago I sent them a card which had a photo of the three of us on the front. F put it on the fridge and keeps looking at it and saying how much she loves her family – including me in it! I feel so very lucky to have such wonderful friends who I also view as family. I sometimes wonder what people think when they see us wandering around together, especially the other day when F made us all hold hands in a long line. I go between thinking people think of us as a throple/throuple or that I am the nanny. Neither of which are the case, nor never will be. It’s just a cute little family and their family friend. And it’s perfect as it is. I enjoy spending time with all three of them so very much. I just have so much fun and they make me feel so happy. Michigan is going to be wonderful.

Anyway, onto some other random things:

Download: Last week Download announced that they would be doing a tiny pilot event with 10,000 people. I was distraught. It’s taking place whilst I am still in the US and there would be no possible way of getting home in time, regardless of this I will be in Michigan when it is taking place and I also imagine I will be having an absolutely wonderful time. However, Download is so very important to me and the thought of missing it devastates me. Anyway, I muted all their postings on social media and unsubscribed to all their emails because… ignorance is bliss right? Anyway, regardless of doing all this someone reposted it and I saw the line-up when it was released. I must admit I was happy that I did. The line-up is terrible and therefore I do not have the complete distressed feeling that I had when the pilot was announced. Of course, if I was in the UK I’d probably have gone anyway – I mean, who wouldn’t after the year… year and a half we have all had, but regardless, the line-up being rubbish has eased the pain and I can very much enjoy myself in Michigan and not even worry about feeling sad or missing it. Bring on Download 2022… I will ignore the fact I will be 30 at the time of next years Download, because that too absolutely destroys and terrifies me. Gah.

Dentist: I went back to the dentist AGAIN. The dentist looked at my filling for the third (I think), time and I had nitrous oxide again to somewhat knock me out. However, something rather embarrassing happened. My dentist told me that it would not last as long so I don’t think she gave me as much nitrous as last time… so I remember beginning to wake up and knowing that she was still doing whatever in my mouth and I started waving my arms around and shouting (as much as I could with someone’s hands in my mouth) that ‘I was awake, should I be awake!?’ I was so worried and scared, but she told me I was fine and that should be coming around soon. I didn’t feel anything of course but that panic was real. For the next few days, I was still suffering with tooth pain and taking ibuprofen every single day! I emailed my dentist back and fourth for a while and the reason for so much pain in my tooth may be because of my IBD. Basically, when you have dental work, including a filling, and have anaesthesia it causes inflammation in the mouth and gum. For most people this only bothers them for a few days, or sometimes not at all, but for people who have inflammation conditions or inflammation in other parts of their body it can last much longer. I think it is possible that that is the problem. She suggested trying a certain mouth rinse and toothpaste for sensitive teeth. I got these at the beginning of this week and so far so good. I’m hoping that this means the pain is over! Keeping my fingers well and truly crossed! I will be back at the dentist again though the week before I go to Michigan in order to get my Invisalign fitted! I’m excited about that, but also anxious!

Skin: I have been struggling with acne so much for the last few years. Some days are worse than others, but since I started seeing a dermatologist, taking medication and using a medicated retinoid my skin is just looking better and better. I went for my monthly facial yesterday and my aesthetician was so excited to see how well my skin was looking. Usually my facial always contains medicated products and peels, but this time she was super excited because she didn’t need to! I got to have a really wonderful hydrating seasonal facial and my skin felt wonderful afterwards. I am so happy that my skin is starting to clear up because early last year it was honestly the worst it has ever been, and it made me not want to leave the house!

As always, I have so much more to say, so much more to write and so much more thoughts in my head, but it’s getting late and I need to be up early, so maybe I’ll write more tomorrow. I’m also aware that I say that a lot and then don’t write again until the following weekend… oh well. Dreams have been even more bizarre recently, dreaming of people I haven’t seen or spoken to for such a long time and then discussing it in therapy. But anyway, that’s another topic, for now… happy first week of Pride month!

Oh, and I have FALLEN IN LOVE with Lesley Roy. Granted I only discovered her via Eurovision - my gaydar was on point - but I have been streaming the whole of her back catalogue and I adore her. I cannot stop listening to her music. I adore the videos, the genre, the style, the sound, and of course, I LOVE the lyrics - many of which I really relate to.

[Blog title: Maps - Lesley Roy].

#lesley roy #maps #me #me personal #diary #journal #write #writing #life #thoughts #thought #feelng #feeling #feelings #emotion #emotions #health #love #pride #life update

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williamlwolf89 · 4 years

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801+ Power Words That Pack a Punch and Convert like Crazy

Power words are like a “cheat code” for boosting conversion rates. Sprinkle in a few, and you can transform dull, lifeless words into persuasive words that compel readers to take action.

And the best part?

You can use them anywhere.

In this post, you’ll learn how to use power words like a kung fu master. Specifically:

The definition of power words (and why they’re so powerful);

The 7 types of power words proven to increase conversions;

Examples of how bloggers, freelance writers, and businesses are using powerful words to boost conversions;

A huge list of power words you can use, bookmark, and reference (again and again).

Download All 801+ Power Words(in one handy, free PDF)

Want to bring your ideas to life, to make them take up residence in the reader’s mind, lurking in the background, tugging, pulling, and cajoling their emotions until they think and feel exactly as you want?

Then you’re going to love this post.

Let’s jump in.

What are Power Words?

Power words are persuasive, descriptive words that trigger a positive or negative emotional response. They can make us feel scared, encouraged, aroused, angry, greedy, safe, or curious. Authors, copywriters, and content marketers use “power words” to spice up their content and compel audiences to take action.

Clear as mud?

Let’s deconstruct an example from the great Winston Churchill. All the power words are underlined:

We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.

Inspiring, right?

Here’s why:

Power Words = Emotional Words Packed with Persuasion

Smart speakers, as well as their speechwriters, sprinkle their speeches with carefully-chosen power words drenched in sensory details, drawing the audience from one emotion to another as skillfully as any novelist or screenwriter.

And it goes beyond speakers and storytellers.

Email marketing messages, copywriting, infographics, step-by-step tutorials, sales pages, inspirational quotes, content marketing, case studies, call to actions, testimonials, tweets, and other social media posts are all designed to influence the reader in some way. You want to pass along information, yes, but you also want the reader to feel a certain way about that information.

Maybe you want to impress them, get them excited, make them cautious, get them angry, encourage them to keep going, or any number of emotions. The better a job you do at making them feel, the more influential you are, and the better your chances of getting what you want.

So…

Looking for a quick way to give your writing more punch?

Maybe add a little personality or pizzazz — that extra little “oomph” that grabs your reader’s attention?

Then you need to infuse your content with power words.

The 7 Different Types of Power Words

Fear Power Words

Encouragement Power Words

Lust Power Words

Anger Power Words

Greed Power Words

Safety Power Words

Forbidden Power Words

We’ve organized our power words into seven different types, which all accomplish the same goal: Each elicits emotion in your reader.

Let’s go over each type and see why these words work.

1. Fear Power Words

Let’s do a little experiment.

Just for a moment, stop reading this post, turn on the television, and go to a major news channel. Watch it for five minutes, listening for the words below.

Chances are, you’ll hear dozens of them. Here’s why:

Fear is without a doubt the most powerful emotion for grabbing and keeping an audience’s attention. To make sure you don’t change the channel, news networks load up with fear words, making you worry you might miss something important.

Granted, you can overdo it, but in my opinion, most writers don’t use these types of words nearly enough. They really do connect with people.

How to Crank Up Emotion with Fear Words

Here’s an example of a blog post headline here at Smart Blogger that utilizes three different fear words:

Open it and you’re greeted by this fear-packed introduction:

I was in agony.

Waves of pain unimaginable shot down my spine, causing every muscle in my body to contract as if I’d been shocked with 20,000 volts of electricity. My back arched up at an unnatural angle. My arms and legs began to shake.

One moment, I was on a webinar talking to a few hundred people about traffic, walking them through exactly how to start a blog and make it popular. The next, everything went dark. I was still conscious, but just barely.

Pretty effective, right?

Here’s another one:

If I’m working from home, will I lose my sanity if I don’t read this post? There’s only one way to find out. (Click!)

Want to sprinkle fear power words into your writing? Here are a bunch to get you started:

Agony Lunatic Apocalypse Lurking Armageddon Massacre Assault Meltdown Backlash Menacing Beating Mired Beware Mistake Blinded Murder Blood Nightmare Bloodbath Painful Bloodcurdling Pale Bloody Panic Blunder Peril Bomb Piranha Buffoon Pitfall Bumbling Plague Cadaver Played Catastrophe Plummet Caution Plunge Collapse Poison Corpse Poor Crazy Prison Cripple Pummel Crisis Pus Danger Reckoning Dark Refugee Deadly Revenge Death Risky Deceiving Scary Destroy Scream Devastating Searing Disastrous Shame Doom Shatter Drowning Shellacking Dumb Shocked Embarrass Silly Fail Slaughter Feeble Slave Fired Strangle Fool Stupid Fooled Suicide Frantic Tailspin Frightening Tank Gambling Targeted Gullible Teetering Hack Terror Hazardous Terrorist Hoax Torture Holocaust Toxic Horrific Tragedy Hurricane Trap Injure Vaporize Insidious Victim Epidemic Cataclysmic Bufoon Suffering Reckoning Trauma Dangerous Annihilate Invasion Volatile IRS Vulnerable Jail Warning Jeopardy Nerd Lawsuit Wounded Looming Cringeworthy Last chance Fugacious Worry Wreaking havoc

2. Encouragement Power Words

Let’s face it.

When they’re reading, most people aren’t exactly bouncing off the walls with energy and enthusiasm. They’re probably bored, maybe a little depressed, and almost definitely tired.

And they’re looking for something, anything, that’ll wake them up and make them feel better.

The good news?

Your writing can do that for them.

How to Crank Up Emotion with Encouragement Words

Here’s an example email from Mirasee:

With two encouraging words — life-changing and magic — in one email subject line, it’s a message that stands out in most inboxes.

Want to give your readers a pep talk and get them charged up again? Want to encourage them?

Use these persuasive words:

Amazing Jubilant Ascend Legend Astonishing Life-changing Astounding Magic Audacious Marvelous Awe-inspiring Master Awesome Mind-blowing Backbone Miracle Badass Miraculous Beat Noble Belief Perfect Blissful Persuade Bravery Phenomenal Breathtaking Pluck Brilliant Power-up Celebrate Praise Cheer Prevail Colossal Remarkable Command Revel Conquer Rule Courage Score Daring Seize Defeat Sensational Defiance Spectacular Delight Spine Devoted Spirit Dignity Splendid Dominate Spunk Effortless Staggering Empower Strengthen Epic Striking Excellent Strong Excited Stunning Extraordinary Stunt Eye-opening Supreme Fabulous Surprising Faith Terrific Fantastic Thrive Fearless Thwart Ferocious Titan Fierce Tough Force Triumph Fulfill Tremendous Glorious Unbeatable Glory Unbelievable Graceful Unforgettable Grateful Unique Grit Unleash Guts Uplifting Happy Valiant Heart Valor Hero Vanquish Honor Victory Hope Win Incredible Wonderful Jaw-dropping Wondrous Kudos Brighten Lovable Radiant Flawless Classy Affable Stupendous Virtuoso Cheery Openhearted Jovial Beauteous Logophile Adorable

3. Lust Power Words

Like it or not, lust is one of the core human emotions.

Just look at the men’s and women’s magazines in the checkout aisle, and you’ll see what I mean. Nearly every headline on the cover is either blatantly or indirectly about sex.

And it works, not just for headlines in men’s and women’s magazines, but for messages to your email list, subheads in your articles — anything.

Editor’s Note: Adding one or two power words to your subheads will compel readers to stick around longer, which will increase your dwell time — a big deal in Google’s eyes.

As a writer, you can use words that inspire lust to make almost anything intriguing.

How to Crank Up Emotion with Lust Words

See if you can spot the lust words in this headline from Cosmopolitan:

Okay, the orange underlines probably give it away, but my hunch is you didn’t need them.

Power words like captivating and love jump off the page. And if you use them properly, they can stir all sorts of emotions in your readers’ heads. (Want to see your click-through rates soar? Add a lust word or two.)

Here’s a lascivious list of descriptive words to get you started:

Allure Naughty Arouse Nude Bare Obscene Begging Orgasmic Beguiling Passionate Brazen Pining Captivating Pleasure Charm Provocative Cheeky Racy Climax Raunchy Crave Risque Delight Rowdy Delirious Salacious Depraved Satisfy Desire Saucy Dirty Scandalous Divine Seduce Ecstasy Seductive Embrace Sensual Enchant Sex Enthralling Shameless Entice Sinful Entrance Sleazy Excite Sleeping Explicit Spank Exposed Spellbinding Fascinate Spicy Forbidden Steamy Frisky Stimulating Goosebumps Strip Hanker Sweaty Heavenly Tantalizing Hottest Taste Hypnotic Tawdry Impure Tease Indecent Tempting Intense Thrilling Intoxicating Tickle Itching Tight Juicy Tingle Kinky Turn on Kiss Unabashed Lascivious Uncensored Lewd Untamed Lick Untouched Lonely Urge Longing Voluptuous Love Vulgar Pleasurable Charismatic Riveting Obsession Mouthwatering Compelling Magnetic Enchanting Lovely Engaging Intriguing Fascinating Flirt Alluring Lure Wanton Luscious Wet Lush Whip Lust Wild Mischievous X-rated Mouth-watering Yearning Naked Yummy Sneak peek Promiscuous

4. Anger Power Words

As writers, sometimes our job is to anger people.

Not for the fun of it, mind you, but because someone is doing something wrong, and the community needs to take action to correct it.

The problem is, with wrongdoing, most people are pretty apathetic — they’ll wait until the situation becomes entirely intolerable to do anything, and by then, it’s often too late.

So, we have to fan the flames.

How to Crank Up Emotion with Anger Words

The authors of this Forbes headline don’t pull any punches:

I didn’t realize some people get angry over business jargon, but apparently it’s a thing. And this headline, undoubtedly, had such people frothing at the mouth.

If you want to connect with people’s anger and slowly but surely work them into a frenzy, use the power words below.

Just be careful who you target. Lawyers can eat you alive if you pick on the wrong person. 🙂

Abhorrent Money-grubbing Abuse Nasty Annoying Nazi Arrogant No good Ass kicking Obnoxious Backstabbing Oppressive Barbaric Pain in the ass Bash Payback Beat down Perverse Big mouth Pesky Blatant Pest Brutal Phony Bullsh*t Pissed off Bully Pollute Cheat Pompous Clobber Pound Clown Preposterous Cocky Pretentious Corrupt Punch Coward Punish Crooked Rampant Crush Ravage Curse Repelling Debase Repugnant Defile Revile Delinquent Revolting Demolish Rotten Desecrate Rude Disgusting Ruined Dishonest Ruthless Distorted Savage Evil Scam Exploit Scold Force-fed Sick and tired Foul Sink Freaking out Slam Full of sh*t Slander Greedy Slap Gross Slay Harass Smash Hate Smear High and mighty Smug Horrid Sniveling Infuriating Snob Jackass Snooty Kick Snotty Kill Spoil Knock Stuck up Knock out Suck Know it all Terrorize Lies Trash Livid Trounce Loathsome Tyranny Loser Underhanded Lying Up to here Maul Useless Broke Stink Fear Raise hell Sneaky Screw Rant Miff Diatribe Vicious Weak Diminish Provoke Hostile Morally bankrupt Worst Thug B.S. Agitate Boil over Annoy Violent Misleading Violate Lollygag Quixotic

5. Greed Power Words

The legendary copywriter Gary Halbert once said, “If you want people to buy something, stomp on their greed glands until they bleed.” Graphic, yes, but also true.

Skim through good sales copy on an e-commerce site, and you’ll find a lot of power words based on vanity or greed. Many of them are so overused they’ve become cliché, but that doesn’t stop them from working.

The truth is, nearly every human being on the planet is interested in either saving or making money.

How to Crank Up Emotion with Greed Words

Its explicit and implicit use of greed words makes this popular book from Dave Ramsey a great example:

“Money” is hard to miss — it’s probably the ultimate greed word and it’s sitting there in capital letters.

But a title like “Total Money Makeover” also implies another greed word (even though it doesn’t directly state it): money-saving.

(It also gets bonus points for using alliteration and the safety power word “proven”, which we’ll discuss in a moment.)

If you want to stomp on your readers’ greed glands, use these power words:

Bank Jackpot Bargain Lowest price Best Luxurious Billion Marked down Bonanza Massive Booked solid Money Cash Money-draining Cheap Money-saving Costly Nest egg Discount Pay zero Dollar Prize Double Profit Explode Quadruple Extra Reduced Feast Rich Fortune Savings Don’t miss out Fast Giveaway While they last Instantly Expires Never again Premiere Final More Hurry Sale ends soon Value Monetize Big Save New Deadline Handsome Noteworthy Kick ass Moneymaking Knockout Lucky Notable Amplify At the top Attractive Wealthy Ahead of the game Legendary Beautiful Optimal Good-looking Successful Bold Fortunate Sassy Smart Elegant Gorgeous Clever Foxy Quick-witted Genius Effective Elite Drop-dead Crowned Dazzling You Turbo charge Bright Super-human Brassy Booming Boss Unbeaten Undefeated Boost Exclusive Frugal Special Price break Before Running out Upsell Bonus Free Six-figure Freebie Skyrocket Frenzy Soaring Prosperous Surge Gift Treasure Golden Triple Greatest Waste High-paying Wealth Inexpensive Whopping Cheat sheet

6. Safety Power Words

Greed isn’t the only emotion you want buyers to feel. You also want to make them feel safe.

They need to trust both you and your product or service. They need to have confidence you’ll deliver, and they need to believe they’ll get results.

Of course, building that kind of trust starts with having a quality brand and reputation, but the words you use to describe yourself and your product or service also matter.

How to Crank Up Emotion with Safety Words

On the landing page for one of our Smart Blogger courses, we use power words to make sure our potential customers feel safe:

In addition to “legitimate” and “guaranteed” in the screenshot above, our landing page is sprinkled with numerous safety words:

Money-back

Results

Refund

Proven

Risk-free

They work for us, and they can work for you.

Help your customers feel safe by using as many of these power words as possible:

Above and beyond Privacy Anonymous Professional Authentic Protected Automatic Proven Backed Recession-proof Bankable Refund Best-selling Reliable Cancel anytime Research Certified Results Clockwork Risk-free Endorsed Rock-solid Foolproof Science-backed Guaranteed Scientific Moneyback Bona fide Recognized Authority Studies show Because Scientifically proven Genuine Worldwide Authoritative Safety Accredited Fully refundable Case study Well respected Dependable Improved Ensured Expert According to Track record Approved Ironclad Secure Legitimate Sure-fire Lifetime Survive Money-back Tested No obligation That never fails No questions asked Thorough No risk Trustworthy No strings attached Try before you buy No-fail Unconditional Official Verify Permanent World-class Guilt-free Don’t worry

7. Forbidden Power Words

Remember when you were a kid, and someone told you NOT to do something? From that point on, you could think about little else, right? Curiosity always got the better of us.

The truth is, we’re all fascinated by the mysterious and forbidden. It’s like it’s programmed into our very nature.

So why not tap into that programming?

How to Crank Up Emotion with Forbidden Words

This Ahrefs article tempts you with its headline:

What’s the “secret”? Only one way to find out.

Whenever you want to create curiosity, sprinkle these power words throughout your writing, and readers won’t be able to help being intrigued:

Ancient Lost Backdoor Never seen before Banned Off the record Behind the scenes Off-limits Black Market Outlawed Blacklisted Private Bootleg Restricted Censored Sealed Remote Be the first Ridiculous Become an insider Secrets Bizarre Shocking Class full Ssshhh!!! Closet Spoiler Elusive Supersecret Hilarious Thought-provoking Illusive Top secret Incredibly Trade secret Insane Uncharted Interesting Unconventional Invitation only Undiscovered Key Unexplained Login required Unexplored Members only Unheard of Myths Unsung Odd Untold On the QT Unusual Priceless Wacky Privy Zany Psycho Classified Secret Cloak and dagger Smuggled Concealed Strange Confessions Tried to hide Confidential Unauthorized Controversial Uncensored Covert Under wraps Cover-up Undercover Exotic Underground Forbidden Under-the-table Forgotten Undisclosed From the vault Unexpected Under the table Unlock Hush-hush Unreachable Illegal Unspoken Insider Unveiled Little-known Withheld Hidden

Now that we’ve looked at the different types of power words (and gone over a few quick examples), let’s go over all the different places you can use them:

Powerful Words in Action: 14 Places Where Strong Words Can Help You

Headlines

Subheads

Email Subject Lines

Opt-In Boxes

Homepage

Business Names/Blog Names

Product Names

Sales Pages

Testimonials

Bullet Lists

Button Copy (Call to Action)

Author Bios

YouTube Videos

Book Titles

1. Using Power Words in Headlines

Any writer or blogger who’s been in the game for a while knows the headline is the most important part of writing your blog post.

Its purpose, after all, is to entice the reader to read the rest of your content. If your headline fails to get attention, potential readers will ignore it when it shows up in their tweets and social media feeds.

And just one or two power words in your headline is usually enough to make it stand out.

Just look at this headline from BuzzFeed:

The word “Unveiled” makes it feel like a secret is being exposed, and the word “Breathtaking” makes you curious to see what the photo looks like.

Here’s another example from BoredPanda:

People generally love anything adorable, so this headline will easily catch attention. (The fact that it refers to snakes will only make people more curious.)

The headline then drives it home by using the powerful verb “Conquer.”

Here’s one from BrightSide:

While one or two power words are often enough, this headline proves you can use more when it fits.

This headline has four powerful words, but they feel natural in the headline, which keeps it from feeling like over-the-top clickbait.

Last one:

This headline from our How to Make Money Writing: 5 Ways to Get Paid to Write in 2020 post incorporates two greed words: “money” and “get paid.”

It’s one of our most-popular posts, and its headline’s use of power words is a big reason why.

2. Using Power Words in Subheads

Too many writers overlook the value of subheads, which is a mistake. Once people click on your headline, most will scan the post first to see if it looks worthy of their attention.

Adding some power words to your subheads is a good way to make your post look like an interesting read.

For example, here are three subheads from our post on E-book mistakes:

See how the power words in these subheads grab your attention and make you want to read the text that follows?

Adding one or two power words to your subheads will compel readers to stick around longer, which will increase your dwell time — a big deal in Google’s eyes.

3. Using Power Words in Email Subject Lines

Having an email list is of little use if only a handful of readers bother to open your emails.

And these days, most people’s inboxes are flooded, so they’re selective in which emails they open.

You can stand out in their inbox and raise your open rates by including power words in your subject lines.

Just look at this one from Ramit Sethi:

If this subject line would’ve read “The rules of learning,” do you think it would be as appealing? The word “unspoken” is what makes it interesting.

Here’s another one from Cal Fussman:

Both “Triumph” and “Tragedy” are powerful words full of emotion.

And finally, here’s a good example from AppSumo:

The power phrase “Unleash the power” makes you feel this email is hiding something incredibly powerful inside.

See how that works?

When you send out emails to your list, try to add a power word to your subject line so it stands out in readers’ inboxes.

4. Using Power Words in Opt-In Boxes

As a blogger, one of your main goals is to grow a large and engaged readership, and the best way to do it is by converting readers into subscribers.

That means — unless you’re using a blogging platform like Medium which doesn’t allow them — you should have opt-in forms scattered across your website.

You can place them on your homepage, at the end of your posts, in your sidebar, in a popup, or anywhere else.

But no matter where you place them, your opt-in boxes must catch people’s eye and make them want to share their email address with you. Because they won’t give it away to just anyone.

(Remember, their inboxes are already flooded, so they’re not necessarily eager to get even more emails.)

Fortunately, you can use power words to make your offer more enticing.

As an example, here’s an old popup from Cosmopolitan:

This popup had power words everywhere, but it avoided feeling like overkill. I bet it converted like crazy.

Here’s a slightly more subtle example from Betty Means Business:

It’s understated, but still quite effective.

Again, you don’t have to overdo it with the power words on these. A little can go a long way.

Here’s one final example from Renegade Planner:

In short:

If you’re not using power words in your opt-in boxes, you’re missing out.

Big time.

5. Using Power Words on Your Homepage

Your homepage is the face of your website and it’s usually one of the most visited pages. Many people who visit your website will see this page first, so you want it to make a good first impression.

Some people use their homepage to promote their email list, others use it to promote one of their products, and others use it as a red carpet — welcoming new visitors and explaining what their site is all about.

In any case, your homepage is a good spot to add a few power words, as it can determine whether people stay (and take the action you want them to take) or leave (never to return).

Look at this value proposition on the homepage for Nerd Fitness:

“Nerds,” “Misfits,” and “Mutants” are unusual power words that work well for Nerd Fitness’ target audience. These words immediately separate it from all the other fitness blogs out there.

But they push it even further with “Strong,” “Healthy,” and “Permanently.”

Here’s another value proposition from MainStreetHost’s homepage:

It’s quite minimal, isn’t it? They just wrote down three power words and follow it up with a service they provide.

Of course, you don’t have to limit your use of power words to the top of your homepage.

You can use it in other parts of the homepage too, as Ramit Sethi does here in his list of what you’ll get when you sign up for his email list:

Go look at your homepage now and see if you can find any areas you can spruce up with some power words.

6. Using Power Words in Business Names/Blog Names

Having a forgettable name is poison to your website’s growth. So when you start a blog, you want to make sure you have a name people can easily recall.

If you haven’t chosen your blog name yet (or if you’re thinking about rebranding), you should use a power word to give it some punch. It’ll make you stand out from all the boring, forgettable brands out there.

Just take a look at the collection of blog names below and see how well they’ve incorporated power words:

7. Using Power Words in Product Names

Just like you can use power words to spruce up your blog name, you can also use them to make your product names pack more of a punch.

It can make the difference between your potential customers thinking, “Ooh, this product sounds cool!” and them thinking, “Meh.”

Just check out this subscription product from Nerd Fitness:

It has such a powerful name that you’d almost want to sign up without learning anything else about it. Who wouldn’t want to be part of a community of rising heroes?

Here’s another good example from Pat Flynn:

It’s a powerful name for his podcasting course that instantly informs you of the benefit.

So if you’re about to launch a product (or if you’ve launched a product with a tepid name), consider giving it a power word to make it pack a punch.

8. Using Power Words on Sales Pages

You can also use power words to spruce up your sales pages and make them more effective at selling your e-commerce products or services.

They will grab people’s attention when they arrive on the page, they will keep their attention as they scroll down, and they’ll help seduce readers before they reach your “buy” button.

Just look at this headline on Ramit Sethi’s sales page for his product 50 Proven Email Scripts (which also has a power word in its name):

And as you scroll down, you see he keeps using power words throughout his sales page.

His headline is followed by emotion-packed subheads:

And he even uses power words in his guarantee:

9. Using Power Words in Testimonials

Power words are also tremendously effective in testimonials.

Of course, I’m not suggesting you change people’s testimonials to include power words. But you can certainly select the ones that already use them to great effect.

Just look at this example from Betty Means Business:

Or look at this one from Farideh’s blog:

And here’s another example from Renegade Planner:

All these testimonials will lend extra credibility and excitement due to their power words and phrases.

10. Using Power Words in Bullet Lists

Many sales pages include a list of benefits of the product they’re selling. Many opt-in forms include a huge list of reasons you should sign up to their email list. And many case studies use bullet lists to quickly summarize information.

You can use power words in these lists to inspire more excitement in your reader as they read through them.

Here’s one example from Ramit Sethi’s sales page for his How to Talk to Anyone course:

And here’s another example from an opt-in form on Restart Your Style:

Without these power words, these lists wouldn’t convince nearly as many readers to buy or subscribe.

11. Using Power Words in Button Copy and CTA (Call to Action)

Yep, you can use power words in your button copy too — even if you only have a few words you can fit in there.

One of the most common power words used in buttons is “Free” (as in the example below):

But you can be more creative with buttons than you might think.

Takes this button from the sales page for the book The Renegade Diet:

“Immediate,” “Money Back,” and “Guarantee” are all incredibly powerful words, and the author manages to squeeze them all into one button.

Here’s an example from Tim Ferris:

He could’ve used “Send Me the List” as most people would do, but “Unlock” makes it sound a lot more intriguing — like you’re getting access to something that’s been kept hidden away.

Now take a look at the buttons on your site.

Do you see any opportunities to spruce them up with a power word?

12. Using Power Words in Author Bios

Your author bio is another extremely important part of your marketing.

When you guest post for another blog (or write a paid article as a freelancer), your author bio has the difficult job of making readers want to know more about you so they click through to your site.

That means your author bio needs to spark attention and interest. And you usually only get three sentences, so you need to carefully consider the words you use.

As an example, here’s the author bio from Henneke Duistermaat in her post on overcoming writer’s block:

Henneke’s author bio is full of power words. It shows her uniqueness and makes her stand out from other copywriters.

You can tell she has carefully picked each perfect word for maximum impact.

Here’s another example from Sarah Peterson’s post on blog ads:

She opens strong immediately by mentioning her guides are insanely useful. And just the name of her report alone is full of power words: “Free,” “Reveal,” and “Begging.”

Makes you want to get your hands on that report, doesn’t it?

13. Using Power Words on YouTube Videos

If you’re publishing videos on YouTube and you want to get more views, you should use power words in your titles.

All the biggest YouTube channels do this.

They understand most of their views will come from their subscribers finding them in their feeds, and from people finding them in the sidebar of other videos.

In both cases, you’re competing with many other videos for their attention. If you want your video to stand out and be the one they choose to watch, your title has to be captivating.

See how Philip DeFranco does it below:

“Disgusting,” “Punishment,” and “Controversy” are all attention-grabbing words (and that’s besides the attention-grabbing names of Brock Turner, Star Wars, and Kim Kardashian).

Note also how he has capitalized “Disgusting.” It’s another smart trick many YouTube channels use to stand out more in YouTube’s lists of video suggestions.

Style vlogger Aaron Marino often does it as well:

By capitalizing the power words “Don’ts” and “Stupid,” his title catches a lot more attention (as you can see for yourself by the millions of views it’s received).

14. Using Power Words in Book Titles

If you’re interested in writing your own book, adding power words to your titles will help it sell better.

With all the competition in the book market these days, you need a title that grabs people’s attention and makes them want to peek inside.

Here are a few quick grabs from Amazon’s list of bestsellers in the self-help niche:

I’m sure you’ve seen this title before.

You might say Stephen Covey’s use of power words in his title has been highly effective. (See what I did there?)

Here’s another:

Mark Manson’s bestselling title is packed with power.

The power word “Subtle” juxtaposes well with the F-bomb in the title, and his use of “Counterintuitive” will spark some interest as well.

One more:

Lastly, Jen Sincero’s encouraging book title makes you want to flip it open and read it in one go.

The use of “Badass” alone will make it stand out in the self-development section, but her use of “Greatness” and “Awesome” in the subtitle truly seals the deal.

Go Ahead and Tell Me. What Powerful Words Did I Miss?

They’re known by many names…

Emotion words. Good words. Strong words. Powerful words, creative words, sensory words, trigger words, persuasive words, descriptive words, impactful words, interesting words, positive words, unique words, and even — yes, seriously — awesome words.

But whatever you call them; smart, attractive people such as yourself have mastered the strategic use of power words and use them every day to pack their writing with emotion so they can increase conversions.

Yes, this is an enormous list of words, but with so many power words and power phrases available, you’d need a thesaurus or Word of the Day dictionary to catch every single word on the first pass. (Plus, new words seem to be added to the English language every day.)

What are some other good words that seem to have that extra little spark of emotion inside them?

The post 801+ Power Words That Pack a Punch and Convert like Crazy appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/power-words/

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gigsoupmusic · 4 years

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Y△CHT (Colours Hoxton, London - 13 Feb 2020)

Last night we were absolutely privileged to see one of the most innovative bands of the day perform at the lovely Hoxton venue that is Colours. YACHT (or, to be more exact, Y△CHT) are a band hailing from Portland, Oregon, though now are based in Los Angeles. They have been going strong since 2002; the spelling of their name is not a typo (the A is stylised as a triangle, and evokes the sail of a yacht). The name itself comes from a rather strange science course (no longer in existence) that keyboardist Jona Bechtolt attended at age 16 called "Young Americans Challenging High Technology".

Comprised of Claire L. Evans on lead vocals, the aforementioned Jona on keyboards (and guitar), and Rob Kieswetter (aka Bobby Birdman) on bass and keyboards, Y△CHT have, according to Claire, finally found 'the holy trinity' following a number of permutations.

Y△CHT have been making headlines lately for all the right reasons: they have created a fantastic new album called Chain Tripping, for which both the music and the lyrics were composed via Artificial Intelligence. Last night was, mainly, about showcasing this new album. Yes, you heard that right. A variety of different AI processes were used to write not just the lyrics but the music as well. It should come as no surprise that Claire has a science background. Author of a recent book called Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet, she has been very much at the forefront of science-tech, with her own blog Universe (hosted by National Geographic), as well as regular science columns in The Guardian, Wired and many other publications, plus Futures Editor of Vice's 'Motherland' science website. Y△CHT have, therefore, been pushing the boundaries of AI and musical composition to its limits.

The first thing we noticed was that the band decided, for reasons unexplained at the time, to perform the entire Chain Tripping album backwards. By backwards, we mean starting with track 10 ("Little Instant") and finishing with track 1 ("(Downtown) Dancing"), though we wouldn't put it past them to decide to play the actual music backwards one evening as an experiment! Claire has a tremendous amount of energy on stage. She is constantly throwing shapes (think: cover of David Bowie's Heroes album, and vogue it up a bit), so much so that half the photographs we took ended up having to be discarded, as she was a blurry mess. Even Jona and Rob failed to keep still for long, often interchanging mid-song two or three times with one another's keyboards, which were located at opposite ends of the stage.

So, the stage was pretty busy, and the crowd were soon screaming with pleasure. Although a band should of course mainly be about the music, there is nothing more boring than seeing static band-members. We enjoyed the first three songs (the last three on the album), in particular the very cheerful "Stick it to the Station". Our first stand-out song, however, had to be song 4, "Sad Money", which was quite different, and a lot more trancey. We asked Claire later which songs from the album were likely to remain in the repertoire when they perform a Greatest Hits concert rather than an album showcase like we heard last night. We were delighted to hear that "Sad Money" is one of their favourites and therefore likely to make the cut. Following that came a much slower song, called "Death" – which just so happened to be the first track that their software churned out when they started with this AI experiment. This was quite dark, and included some rather violent lyrics, including 'stab, stab, stab a cop' repeated a number of times. We asked Claire later about this, and whether the fact that software coming up with controversial lyrics means that the lyricist can be exonerated, therefore implying that self-censorship is no longer necessary in this future world. She agreed it was a good point, and there would certainly be some plausible deniability. However, at the end of the day, the band were still involved in the selection process of the lyrics from those that were generated. The actual lyrics, nonetheless, were not something they would have come up with themselves, but the band thought it rather delightful that the AI process should decide to suggest such strange phrases.

In between tracks, Claire would often address her audience. This again made the gig appear to be much more intimate (in spite of the fact that the venue was heaving with bodies). What was most obvious was how different each of these new songs actually are, from the very 80s sound of "Loud Light" to the quite bonkers track "SCATTERHEAD". On the latter, we loved the use of the cowbell and great guitar effects, which were also evident on "Hey Hey", another 80s-influenced uplifting track which includes quite a dirty deep-house synth on top of a Kim Dealesque bass-line. The strobes came on for "(Downtown) Dancing", the first track on the album. This was the longest song thus far, and included a funky dance bit that was evocative of the famous section in the middle of Michael Jackson's "Thriller". Again, we loved the cowbell. Claire got the entire auditorium clapping at one point, adding to the party atmosphere.

Hearing the album back-to-front, it now made sense why it should be performed that way, as it meant there was a real build-up to that final moment. Of course, this was not the end of the gig. Even with albums as good as Chain Tripping, a lot of people would have felt short-changed had some of the older songs not been performed as well. Y△CHT went on to perform six non-AI songs in total, starting with two from their 2015 album, I Thought the Future Would be Cooler: firstly the track which shares the aforementioned album's name, and then "Hologram". This was followed by "Hard World" from their 2017 Strawberry Moon album, a song about animal rights which was accompanied by the projection of their trippy video featuring a happy foot and a sad foot. This was another song during which the two male components of the band were swapping sides and instruments throughout the song. We share the video in question below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D-Z9rUvlqM Following this came one of our favourite tracks, their cover of Brigitte Fontaine's 1969 utterly surreal French-language song, "Le Goudron". This cover appeared as an online single in 2012 and is well worth downloading. We actually first came across it while watching a superb Italian comedy directed by Paolo Sorrentino about Berlusconi called Loro, in a scene where a rich young scam-artist is trying to entice Berlusconi to an orgiastic party in a villa overlooking the politician's garden. This tune featured in the scene below, and it was a Shazam moment. Thanks to both technology and serendipity, we learnt of this fantastic track, which led us to the band's back catalogue and, ultimately, reviewing them for GIGsoup. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJiiVWFozs0 "Le Goudron" really is a splendid tune, and is probably the most psychedelic of the ones they played last night. The irony is, when you translate the French lyrics into English, they are as bizarre as some of the ones that AI has thrown up for their new album! Following one of those pseudo-encores we wish weren't a thing (we can't remember the last time we heard a genuine encore that the band had not already orchestrated), Y△CHT returned with what was probably their loudest (and certainly most new-wave) track, "Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire)" from their 2011 album Shangri-La, and then ended with the pure pop funness of "Psychic City" from their 2009 album See Mystery Lights, which was coincidentally the first of their albums to feature Claire.

So, will Y△CHT use this process to make another AI album?, we ask Claire after the gig. 'Yeah, I think some variation upon it. But by the time we sit down to make another record the technology will probably have evolved by leaps and bounds. It already has. Since releasing the album, the tools that we used are obsolete. So, I'm excited to try to find some other cobbled-together mix of futuristic tools for the next record that challenges us in the same way that this one did. I don't want to get stuck in a rut.' We were interested to find out whether, by using AI, they felt that some of the creative process of songwriting was taken away from them, but Claire was adamant that she did not feel that way at all. The process allowed them to end up with tons of song lyrics, from which a small percentage was useful. These would then be rearranged (or 'cut up') following a method which has its origins in Dadaist poetry, was famously used by the author William S. Burroughs, and also employed by David Bowie on some of his greatest and most-loved albums.

These single lines of subsequently rearranged lyrics were generated by inputting into the software not just the lyrics from Y△CHT's entire back-catalogue (to give the process an identity closer to the band's original style), but also lyrics from some of their favourite artists, such as Patti Smith or Bowie himself. We asked Claire whether they had to remove some of the generated lyrics because they appeared to be too close to something Bowie or Smith would have themselves written. 'No, the amount of data that you need to train a machine-running algorithm is so significant. I mean, it's literally like seven-hundred thousand pages of text. So the nuances get lost. It's more like you're teaching a machine English based on only song lyrics.' Last night really was a fantastic show, and when Claire addressed the audience in her effervescent manner it seemed especially intimate. We referred earlier to how Y△CHT are now making headlines for all the right reasons. It wasn't always thus: in 2016 they suffered what amounted to a PR disaster when they pretended that they were trying to stop a sex tape they had made from being leaked on the adult website Pornhub, which generated a lot of negative publicity. We personally found the video to be quite innovative – it has a disturbing sci-fi ending – but the band are very remorseful about the stunt and acknowledge that it was in bad taste and should never have been done.

Now, however, it is all about the future, in more ways than one. Thanks to their scientific knowledge, we know that using AI is really just the start of it. It is marvellous to have innovative standard-bearers in modern music today. We have felt that in recent years, there has been nothing new any more. Previous generations had Kraftwerk, Frippertronics, Phil Spector's Wall of Sound... there seemed to be very little new to be coming out of the studios for the current generation. This is now changing. Thank you, Y△CHT, for making the future of music a little more exciting and a little more cute. Read the full article

#AI #BobbyBirdman #ChainTripping #ClaireL.Evans #ColoursHoxton #JonaBechtolt #musicinnovation #Y△CHT #YACHT

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csprofstudy · 5 years

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Goya Blog 2

Goya Blog

Monday 12/11

Although I am fascinated by Goya’s work, I have never actually seen an original painting. Have therefore decided to see what I can find in London. So far I can only track Goya down at the National Gallery. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/francisco-de-goya

There are just 5 paintings to be seen and earlier than the Black Paintings. However, it will be interesting to see some of his contrasting pieces, such as ‘A Picnic’, as well as his formal portraiture, including ‘The Duke of Wellington’! This should give me an insight into how and when his work changed, as well as help me to clarify the reasons for these changes, tying in with my project.

Unfortunately, the Black Paintings are in the Prado, but I have sent off for the Museum ‘Gallery Guide’ which catalogues each of the paintings. Not quite the same as being there, nevertheless I hope it will give me more of an authentic feel, compared to just looking at them on the internet.

Tuesday 13/11

Having put together a bibliography, I have decided also to explore some podcast material to help my research on Goya and give me a different perspective. These two links below look worthwhile. The Radio 3 interview could be especially interesting as it explores the work of Goya from the curator’s point of view. Will set time aside to listen on Thursday.

BBC Radio 4 - Great Lives, Series 27, Goya

Diana Athill joins Matthew to explore the life of the Spanish painter Francisco de Goya.

BBC Radio 3 - Sunday Feature, Doing Goya Justice: The Curator's Story

Feature following the work of Xavier Bray as he curates an exhibition of Goya's paintings.

Sunday 30/12

As there is hardly any Goya available to view in this country, I was looking forward to watching a DVD, which reports on the National Gallery Exhibition of 2015. Goya: Visions of Flesh and blood.

It wasn’t quite what I expected as I had hoped to get more of a feel of the Black Paintings and there was far more focus on his portraits. However, I like the way that Goya was dramatized as it brought him to life and made me feel a bit more connected to him and Gabriele Finaldi’s observation that Goya: ‘Dealt with the human soul’ captures a sense of why we are still very moved by Goya’s work today. Reference was made to both his complicated historical journey and his personal/artistic journey – which relates to my investigation for the contextual study – and to his complicated character..

There was quite a lot of interesting back ground that I was unaware of (including his relationship with Martin Zapater which was an intense and intimate friendship) and I think in my essay I might develop my section on his early work that I plan to use to show his developing style, in line with political and personal events that affected him.

His path to royal painter was clearly laid out by a number of art historians during the film:

1775 Goya was invited to court as King Charles III wanted to show that he was in touch with the Spanish people. He was asked to create tapestries of every day scenes for royal residences, and at this point he was heavily influenced by the naturalistic style of Velázquez. His first Royal Patron was Don Luis de Bourbon; he entered the inner sanctum of the family.

By 1785 his modern approach to portraiture won him more commissions and I learned that he was praised for being unconventional. Instead of small details of a particular scene, he went for face, character, expression - strong physicality – trying to convey the emotional life of his subjects. Understood personality and body language.

This is maybe an early indication of his daring? In his letters he said: ‘There are no rules in painting’, which is something I will bear in mind when I look at his later work. I hadn’t really thought much about Goya the man until this point, but he was obviously ambitious and passionate.

In 1788 the death of Charles III brought nervousness. Charles IV - succeeded and appointed Goya in the position of court painter and conserver. This is Goya the Royalist and respectful servant, his loyalty and talent winning him a reward.

In 1793 he became unwell and travelled to Cadiz to recover but he would be deaf – for the rest of life. Was this due to lead poisoning? (Another avenue to explore?). Whatever the cause, it must have had a dramatic effect on Goya as he loved music and conversation, so how far did it affect the way he worked and the content of his work? Dr Bray suggests this marked a turning point – that Goya had become liberated and more independent. He drew more freely. New subjects were chosen.

Rebellion from France spilled into Spain. Inquisition active. Duchess of Alba had huge influence and he had a close relationship. How far did she influence him?

1993 Spain was defeated by France and Goya became Director of the Academy of Fine Art. ‘Los Caprichos’ – examination of ‘Vices’ marked the beginning of a darker phase with Goya becoming a critical observer. Followed by ‘Disasters of War.’ Sarah Symmons claims Goya was not overtly political, but events and the development in his art seem to prove otherwise.

The beginning of the 19th Century brought further disruption. The film helpfully summarised main events, which helped to emphasise and clarify the background against which Goya was working.

Napoleon declared war on Britain and invaded Spain in 1808 to control European relationships with Britain.

Unrest. Charles IV abdicated in favour of son, Ferdinand VII.

French troops entered Madrid and consequences were brutal.

Spain now under French rule with Napoleon’s brother Joseph declared King.

6 year bloody war. Cruelty Captured by Goya in ‘Disasters of War’. Taste of Black Paintings to follow?

Madrid liberated by British. Ferdinand VII reinstated. Goya continued royal duties.

Had access to French and Spanish – left him vulnerable – but political stance not obvious in portraits at this point.

In later life as commissions decreased, Goya turned to friends/family for portraits.

New reign, suspected French sympathisers questioned by Holy Office, including Goya.

Bought Quinta del Sordo. In 1820 self-portrait with doctor. Near death experience.

Black paintings seem like ‘an exorcism’ (Dr Xavier Bray - who curated the exhibition). Why? Was it a personal statement? Were they an anti-war statement? Were they meant to be seen? No-one seems sure and this is the focal point of my study.

Goya says in his letters: ‘I refuse to do the same thing all the time’.

Complexity and variety are key to trying tounderstand his work.

January 18th

I listened to BBC Great Lives today where Goya was being discussed by Matthew Parris and Sarah Symmons. Although there was some information - especially about historical events – that I had heard before e.g. Napoleon’s invasion of Spain, there were also some useful discussion/quotes that made me think about Goya the man – his motivation, his suffering and people who have influenced him. I might be able to incorporate some of these things into my essay and it will definitely strengthen my ‘Personal’ chapter on Goya the man – and how the complexity of his psyche, relationships and experiences shaped his later work.

Diana Athill. Said she was struck by Goya’s ‘honesty’ – the way he is ‘Always responding to how things really are’. This is interesting in relation to the BPs and the view they convey of man.

Sarah Symmons reminded listeners of his age when creating his masterpieces. He drew ‘Disasters of War’ in his 60s and the ‘Black Paintings’ in his 70s! She points out that for him, ‘The truth was the most important thing.’ Honesty and truth appear to be the driving qualities for his art.

All agreed he was not too interested in the sacred, or heaven. Doesn’t romanticise evil. Perhaps that help to explain the grotesque quality of the BPs?

Something I didn’t know was that all his children died except one and there were many miscarriages. 6 of 7 live births died. This must have been devastating for him and his wife and he must have been touched by this tragedy.

They touched upon his deafness/illness and the theory this was caused because he was an unorthodox painter who often used his hands. As paint was so toxic, this appears to have had a terrible effect. So this will also have had some bearing on his state of mind when he was painting the walls of the Quinto del Sardo with his black paintings.

Some powerful ‘people’ influences were mentioned – the Duchess of Alba was like a Muse and it is said that he loved Martin Zabater passionately. If I have time I might look at some of his letters to Zabater.

Goya worked for Court and Joseph 1 but was inspired by the atrocities of war and Matthew Parris described him as a ‘War reporter’, which is a useful angle/quote for me.

Finally, Athill’s statement that he drew ‘For us’ is an interesting one as I am really interested in Goya’s intentions and his audience – and in why we relate so strongly to him today. Athill’s quote that he was ‘ultra modern’ highlights his ability to cross the centuries and we can relate today both to the idea of civil unrest, and also to mental health issues and the powerful effect these can have.

#mdx3001cs

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celticnoise · 5 years

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Well, last night after I chucked it for the evening I was going through Netflix looking for something a bit different to watch. What I found was something a bit special instead; their incredible fly-on-the-wall documentary Sunderland ‘Til I Die.

Every footballer supporter should see this. I am not joking.

It is riveting.

Eight episodes, each around 45 minutes long, just flew by.

It is astonishing that a documentary team got this much access to a club which was going through a dark, dark spell.

It is amazing that they captured so much raw emotion, so much truth. I was transfixed by it, honestly.

It is a superb – and harrowing – chronicle of a team in freefall, melting down before your eyes, a team which, it swiftly becomes apparent, had ceased to be one long before the cameras rolled.

Two years ago, I went on holiday having bought the entire catalogue of Secret Footballer books for chilling out around the pool.

They are exceptional reads.

In one of them, the writer talks about the Adam Johnson situation. He said something that stayed with me and which I kept thinking about as the remarkable story of the 2017-18 season at the Stadium of Light was unfolding like a slow motion disaster.

He said that when the story broke about the at first un-named Premiership footballer he’d have put money on him being a Sunderland player. He said that the only surprise was the identity of the man himself. He said there were a half dozen others at the club whose names would have come to mind before Adam Johnson.

I am sure he didn’t mean that a lot of their players are engaged in that kind of activity; what he meant is that the club is notorious in the sport for the indiscipline inside it, for the attitudes of a squad which has nothing in common with the fans who you see go through a rollercoaster of emotion in support of their team.

In a well-known article for his own site, The Secret Footballer said of the club that “something seems to happen to people who go there.”

What he described as a “drinking culture” that was unprecedented in the league seemed to match much of what was happening on the screen, but more than that it offers an explanation for what you don’t see but can sense in a number of scenes … a club riven by some deep seated malaise, and whose players appear to be pulling in opposite directions from the very first day of the league campaign.

Even before that there is a stunning moment which sets the tone for all that comes later.

The first episode opens with us going there for their last pre-season game.

There is optimism amongst the fans.

What they see of course is Rodgers’ swaggering Invincibles destroying them 5-0.

In the aftermath of the match, the club’s midfielder Darron Gibson heads out on the piss, encounters some of his club’s fans in a boozer and seriously the worse for wear offers his “opinions” on his team-mates. Let’s just say he isn’t exuding confidence for what lies ahead.

It is an astonishingly negative opening to the season for everyone at the club, and in particular for the new manager Simon Grayson. It is a headache he certainly doesn’t need.

Gibson is involved in another incident towards the end of the season, another unsavoury moment at the centre of which is booze.

You could not make this stuff up, it is too close to the bone.

The club’s director of football is a man who will be familiar to all Scottish football fans; it’s Martin Bain, formerly of Rangers, and he cuts a forlorn figure almost all of the time. He and those who work under him are simply overmatched by the scale of the disaster they are in charge of managing; you see Bain work tirelessly to get signings done, his frustration as opportunities slip through his fingers and you watch him agonise over Grayson’s future as the slide becomes a drop.

At no point does he seem like a man in control; he exudes confidence at certain points, but it’s not even a very convincing façade because the next reversal is never far away. The next disaster is already on the other side of the wheel, coming round.

I don’t know whether Bain is just dreadful at his job – his time at Ibrox was hilariously bad and suggests that he is – or whether the club was just an untamed shambles that nobody could have fixed, but it makes me not want to complain overmuch about Peter Lawwell for a while.

There are moments which are genuinely painful to watch, like a young footballer who has given the club everything over the campaign breaking down talking to the camera, and Chris Coleman, who exudes calm all the way through his own abysmal time as boss, snapping with a fan in what’s nearly a very ugly scene after the club’s fate is sealed.

But it’s the little moments of dissent and disharmony that will haunt me and they are the reason I would be appalled if Celtic ever decided to do something like this. You might think you want to know what goes on behind the scenes at your own club, but believe me there are moments that are better off forever remaining private and which should never see the light of day.

Take the scenes involving players talking to the camera, on the record, about their team-mates and their manager; they are deeply disturbing and would be devastating to everyone concerned if all the parties were still at the club when the show finally aired.

There is a scene involving a player who’s on the way out the door and who can hardly wait to leave; his lack of professionalism and total unconcern as he abandons ship is openly expressed. There’s also a scene involving players sniggering over a potential new arrival; I’m not joking.

Senior pros actually slagging a senior pro at another club who at that point seems to be on his way to theirs.

The way it lays bare relationships between people inside the walls is deeply unsettling. An early scene involving Bain and the club’s head of youth development as they plan the club’s transfer strategy – which is only then imparted to the manager – is the sort that would have had fans burning season tickets on the spot had they known what was going on behind the scenes. Imagine a similar scene involving Lawwell and Lee Congerton; it chills the blood.

Especially when you consider that Congerton was Sunderland’s director of football.

Celtic is a club that is sometimes accused of playing its cards close to its chest.

You know what?

Watching this I am partly glad that they do.

Believe me, there are things we don’t want to know, such as which players are suffering through confidence crises so bad they are talking to the club shrink about how demotivated, even terrified, they feel. Listening to seasoned pros talking about their manager with casual disdain is a shock to the system.

(The identity of the player who is most vocal on that score will come as a surprise to some but not to others; it shines a light on a very well-known falling out within Celtic.)

Imagine watching a behind-the-scenes look at the Mowbray season; who, really, would want that much information? Who would want senior footballers to go on the camera and mouth off about him in a way that made you recoil when you saw them, later, still in the team? Imagine a documentary on the events of our summer just past; I mean, really. One of the only saving graces from that spell was that most of it was kept out of the public gaze.

There’s one footballer in the documentary who is mentioned a few times but never appears on the screen; he was the highest paid at the club but was so ineffective he wasn’t even playing most weeks. They were desperate to get him off the books, but he remained to hive off big money.

We know there have been players who’ve stayed at our club on high salaries who we’d have loved to move on and never did; if you think you’re peeved now imagine seeing scenes where the club desperately tries to free up a few quid for the transfer window by offering one moves elsewhere only for him to steadfastly turn them all down and consequences to the club be damned.

Since taking over as the manager at Celtic, Brendan has largely stamped out the dressing room leakers.

That’s why Kris Boyd’s idiotic comments about splits was so easy to dismiss.

Nobody talks out of class at Celtic; the persistent rumour that Mulumba was dropped because he foolishly spoke to the media when he shouldn’t remains just speculation but it makes a lot of sense. Whoever let that story into the public domain was careful not to get caught lest they suffer the same consequences; it’s not even out of the question that the leak was strategic, to serve as a warning to others to watch their mouths when speaking with the press.

I know a lot of Celtic fans thirst for information about the club, all day, every day. So do I. Most of the time.

But during our summer of fun I didn’t want answers as much as for someone to reassure me that everything was going to be alright. We still don’t know what the final, full, effects of those events were; most days I try to put that out of my mind.

But I know this; say a documentary came out halfway through next season which laid bare everything that had gone on behind the scenes. It would be like detonating a bomb at the heart of the club, and then there might be no recovering from it for years.

It is impossible to watch Sunderland ‘Til I Die and not imagine your own club captured so nakedly, all artifice stripped away, laid bare from boot-room to boardroom. It took enormous courage for those running the club to agree to it; it was either courage or Bain really is an insatiable self-publicist who couldn’t wait to be on camera.

Did the documentary makers sense, when they were pitching it, that things were so bad behind the scenes that they were going to be filming an extraordinary denouement to a crazy era at the club? Put simply, did they suspect that what they were going to capture would be train-wreck TV? Was that what motivated them, or did they genuinely think they were going to film the phoenix-like rise of a newly relegated club as it shook itself off and rebuilt?

Whatever they thought, I think they realised quickly the nature of what they were capturing on camera; what is most extraordinary is that those in charge there did not restrict their access, and did not terminate the project as swiftly as they terminated the manager. I don’t know whether the Sunderland fans are grateful for that or horror-struck.

I just know I wouldn’t like it to be me. I wouldn’t like it to be us.

Sunderland fans can take heart from the ending; it does suggest that better times are ahead.

There is talk of “cleansing” the whole place, and that word appears fitting.

Celtic is in a very stable place right now, in spite of the summer of fun; how long we’d stay that way if we knew more than we do … that’s the question that I really don’t think I want the answer to.

What a wonderful documentary series that was.

It was thrilling, and every fan of every club should watch it.

Please, Celtic, please … never, ever agree to do anything remotely like it.

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nancygduarteus · 5 years

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Is Corn the Worst Food Allergy?

When Christine Robinson was first diagnosed with a corn allergy 17 years ago, she remembers thinking, “No more popcorn, no more tacos. I can do this.”

Then she tried to put salt on her tomatoes. (Table salt has dextrose, a sugar derived from corn.) She tried drinking bottled iced tea. (It contains citric acid, which often comes from mold grown in corn-derived sugar.) She tried bottle water. (Added minerals in some brands can be processed with a corn derivative.) She ultimately gave up on supermarket meat (sprayed with lactic acid from fermented corn sugars), bagged salads (citric acid, again), fish (dipped in cornstarch or syrup before freezing), grains (cross-contaminated in processing facilities), fruits like apples and citrus (waxed with corn-derived chemicals), tomatoes (ripened with ethylene gas from corn), milk (added vitamins processed with corn derivatives). And that’s not even getting to all the processed foods made with high fructose corn syrup, modified food starch, xanthan gum, artificial flavorings, corn alcohol, maltodextrin—all of which are or contain derivatives of corn.

“It’s such an useful plant,” Robinson says of corn. “It can be made into so very, very many things that are, from my perspective, trying to kill me.”

[ Read: Drowning in corn ]

Corn allergies are relatively rare, and ones as severe as Robinson’s are rarer still. (Many people unable to eat whole corn can still tolerate more processed corn derivatives.) But to live with a corn allergy is to understand very intimately how corn is everywhere. Most of the 14.6 billions bushels of corn grown in the U.S. are not destined to be eaten on the cob. Rather, as @SwiftOnSecurity observed in a viral corn thread, the plant is a raw source of useful starches that are ubiquitous in the supply chain.

It’s not just food. Robinson told me is she is currently hoarding her favorite olive oil soap, which she had been using for 17 years but recently went out of stock everywhere. (A number of soap ingredients like glycerin can come from corn.) She’s been reading up on DIY soapmaking. A year ago, the brand of dish soap she liked was reformulated to include citric acid, so she had to give up on that, too. And navigating the hospital with a corn allergy can be particularly harrowing. Corn can lurk in the hand sanitizer (made from corn ethanol), pills (made with corn starch as filler), and IV solutions (made with dextrose). A couple years ago, she went to see a specialist for a migraine, and her doctor insisted she get an IV that contained dextrose.

“And while in the midst of a migraine I had to argue with a doctor about the fact I really could not have a dextrose IV,” she says. In the moment, she realized how absurd it was for her to be telling a world-class specialist to change her treatment.

[ Read: The allergens in natural beauty products ]

Because corn allergies are rare, doctors are often not familiar with the potential scope. Robinson says she was the first case her original doctor had ever seen in 38 years, and he didn’t know to advise her against corn derivatives. Even official sources of medical information can be confusing, telling corn-allergy patients they do not need to avoid cornstarch and high-fructose corn syrup. Misinformation abounds in the other direction, too, as corn allergies can be easy to misdiagnosis and easy to self-diagnose incorrectly. All this means that corn allergy sufferers encounter a good deal of skepticism. But Robert Wood, president of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology and a pediatric allergist at Johns Hopkins, told me that derivatives like corn syrup can indeed cause problems for certain people.

People with corn allergies have naturally been finding each other on the Internet. A Facebook group called Corn Allergy & Intolerance (Maize, Zea Mays) now has over 8,500 members. Becca, a tech worker in Washington state, writes a fairly prominent blog called Corn Allergy Girl. (She asked I not use her last name because she is currently interviewing for new jobs and didn’t want her health status to come up with employers.) The blog collates years of Becca’s research into corn allergies as well as resources inherited from other, now-defunct corn allergy blogs.

Members of the Facebook group have also forged ties with individual farms. Once a year, says Robinson, a farmer in California sends members of the group a big box of avocados that have not been exposed to corn-derived ethylene gas or waxes. “It’s a great month when you’re trying to get through all of them,” she says. For the rest of the time, she gets most of her food from a CSA with a local farm in Pennsylvania.

Becca, who writes Corn Allergy Girl, also gets a lot of her produce from local farms. The rest she grows. She goes to a specific butcher and meat processor who will custom-process whole animals for her without using lactic acid or citric acid. She has two fridges and several freezers to store food for the winter, when fresh vegetables are less abundant. “I go all Little House on the Prairie on the weekend,” she says, “pickling things and shredding them and baking them.” She counts herself lucky to live in the Pacific Northwest, where there are many organic, local farms. It’s harder to find fresh food in many other parts of the country, and it’s much harder to do so on a budget. “Your dollars just don’t go as far as if you’re getting bunch of Chef Boyardee. It’s very cheap to eat canned, preserved food,” says Becca. She had to run GoFundMes, for example, for friends who can’t afford to buy chicken from a source they can tolerate.

The diet of someone with a severe corn allergy is in some ways the ideal diet of a certain type of foodie: fresh, local, free of preservatives and processed foods, the provenance of every ingredient intensely catalogued. It’s just not exactly by choice.

Knowing how to avoid foods with corn is one thing; knowing how to navigate social situations where danger lurks in every corner is another.

Robinson says she has two rules when eating out with friends now. First, eat beforehand. Second, order a San Pellegrino and an appetizer for the table to share, which deflects the inevitable concern from the waitstaff. “They're nice, but people really feel they can find something, and they try. You have to keep saying, ‘No, I can’t I can’t,’ and everybody feels bad.”

Cassandra Wiselka, whose five-year-old is allergic to corn, has written about the problem of Halloween. Virtually all mass-produced candy contains high-fructose corn syrup. Her son still goes trick-or-treating, but she switches out the candy he collects with corn-free alternatives: lollipops, gummy bears, and “fancy expensive chocolate that we don’t even buy for ourselves.” She makes and freezes big batches of corn-free cupcakes and pizza to bring to birthday parties. It’s hard, she says. “He still gets upset at birthday parties and things where he has to have his own special food.” They recently had to turn down a birthday party that was moved to a pizza place last minute because they didn’t have time to make safe pizza to bring.

Wiselka’s family moved from Germany to California when her son was 18 months old. He seemed to get worse after the move. It’s hard to say exactly why but Wiselka noticed that “in Germany, things are a lot less processed, foodwise. At least not processed as much with things like corn.”

The one thing Robinson told me she really misses is being able to travel without worry. She did make a trip to Hawaii recently, after much advanced planning. She picked Hawaii for the scuba diving. When she dives, she has to watch out for a few specific things—that her wetsuit had not been washed with a corn-containing detergent, that her dive partners have not been eating corn chips. But once she’s in the water, she’s calm. Sure, scuba diving can kill if you aren’t careful (100 people die while diving in North America every day), but she can be sure there is no corn in water.

“You don't realize you're carrying around this extreme sense of alertness,” she says. “That level of hypervigilance that you have for things that you could touch or breath in is gone. You're breathing air that you know is and you know the actual oxygen content of. It's just incredibly freeing.”

from Health News And Updates https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/01/what-its-like-be-allergic-corn/580594/?utm_source=feed

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ionecoffman · 5 years

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Is Corn the Worst Food Allergy?

When Christine Robinson was first diagnosed with a corn allergy 17 years ago, she remembers thinking, “No more popcorn, no more tacos. I can do this.”

“It’s such an useful plant,” Robinson says of corn. “It can be made into so very, very many things that are, from my perspective, trying to kill me.”

[ Read: Drowning in corn ]

[ Read: The allergens in natural beauty products ]

Knowing how to avoid foods with corn is one thing; knowing how to navigate social situations where danger lurks in every corner is another.

Article source here:The Atlantic

0 notes

drjerilyn · 7 years

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Midrash Musings: Another of the Good Wife’s Virtues: Abigail (Proverbs 31: 10-31)

It has been some time since I have posted any new midrashim. I hope you continue to visit this blog as I have many more stories to post. Thank you all for visiting my blog.

Another of the Good Wife’s Virtues-Abigail

A Reading from Proverbs 31: 10-31 (taken from NAB:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/proverbs/31)

Who can find* a woman of worth?a

Far beyond jewels is her value.

11Her husband trusts her judgment; he does not lack income.

12She brings him profit, not loss,*all the days of her life.

13She seeks out wool and flax and weaves with skillful hands.

14Like a merchant fleet,*she secures her provisions from afar.

15She rises while it is still night, and distributes food to her household, a portion to her maidservants.

16She picks out a field and acquires it; from her earnings she plants a vineyard.

17She girds herself with strength; she exerts her arms with vigor.*

18She enjoys the profit from her dealings; her lamp is never extinguished at night.*

19She puts her hands to the distaff, and her fingers ply the spindle.*

20She reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy.

21She is not concerned for her household when it snows— all her charges are doubly clothed.

22She makes her own coverlets; fine linen and purple are her clothing.

23Her husband is prominent at the city gates as he sits with the elders of the land.*

24She makes garments and sells them, and stocks the merchants with belts.

25She is clothed with strength and dignity, and laughs at the days to come.*

26She opens her mouth in wisdom; kindly instruction is on her tongue.

27She watches over* the affairs of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.

28Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband, too, praises her:

29“Many are the women of proven worth, but you have excelled them all.”

30Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.*

31Acclaim her for the work of her hands, and let her deeds praise her at the city gates.

Here begins a midrash to tell us who the writer of Proverbs had in mind when he penned these words, for, indeed, there is more to this story:

Yes, it was Abigail who was the subject of this glowing list of virtues, for she was the wife of Adonijah, who was one of the elder leaders in a small settlement of weavers and merchants who located together in a large city not too far from Jerusalem. Though wealthy and a member of the landed gentry, Abigail added much to the family’s income through her weaving of fine linen, woolen cloaks, and belts that were sought after by not only local merchants but also those who traded throughout the Roman Empire.

One of the qualities that the anonymous writer of Proverbs did not catalogue was Abigail’s uncanny ability to detect the suffering of animals. It was almost as if she understood their grief and pain that cried out for relief. She taught her children to always care for injured and sick animals.

Thus, it was not surprising that one day, her youngest son, Amos, brought home a dog that was obviously about ready to give birth. Amos had found the dog wandering in the street next to their home. Though only a four-year-old, he had already named the animal, Mary, after his aunt who lived in Jerusalem. Stately Aunt Mary would probably have been horrified if she knew that her youngest nephew had bestowed her name on a dog, an outcast from society.

“Mother,” quizzed Amos, “this dog is named Mary, and followed me home. Can I keep her?”

“Son,” replied Abigail, “where did you find her? Do you know that she is about to have puppies?”

“Mother, I just knew that she was in trouble because some of the big boys in the town were chasing her and she was having a hard time running from them. I stood up in their path with my big brother Joel and we chased them away from her. See how thin her legs are? Mother, can I keep Mary, she needs our help!” cried Amos, almost to the point of tears as Mary gazed up at both Amos and Abigail as if begging for help.

“Let us ask your father’s permission when he returns home,” she replied, knowing full well that with a name now, the animal had already become a part of the family.

When Adonijah returned home, he could see that Abigail had something on her mind and he drew her aside into the courtyard, away from the children.

“What is it, my love?” inquired Adonijah.

“It seems that Amos has brought home a dog, a pregnant dog, whom he named after your aunt Mary. The animal is in pretty poor shape and is about to give birth. I can see that Amos and Joel have learned the lessons of compassion and care to protect the suffering and extend the hand of hospitality to them,” she whispered to her husband.

“Humm. That could pose a problem for me because we have already extended the hand of hospitality to six visiting rabbis who are on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover. I don’t think they want to share their room with a pregnant dog, even one named after grand dame, Mary!” Adonijah whispered into his wife’s ear so none of the children could hear.

“Let me consider this, dear husband. Will you support my decision in this matter?” asked Abigail.

“You always bring honor to our house and I know that you will decide rightly,” replied Adonijah as the children came running to meet him.

That evening, Abigail fed the dog very carefully and created a bed for Mary under her loom as she had an unfinished project that the merchant, Marcus, was going to pick up the next morning. Abigail had determined to work on it until it was finished even if she completed it long after the family had retired. Abigail could see that Mary was uncomfortable and that night the puppies were born. There were five little newborns that needed attention. Abigail put her weaving aside to take care of Mary and her newborn pups.

Early the next morning, Adonijah left for the city gates to work with the elders deciding issues of importance for the community. Before the distinguished visiting rabbis arrive, Marcus showed up for his three promised woolen cloaks. Abigail gave him the two cloaks she had completed and negotiated with him to deliver the remaining cloak when it was finished.

As they were talking, Amos burst into the small hearth room excited about the puppies, but even more excited about the distinguished visitors that had arrived at their home and were waiting outside the gate to the courtyard.

“Oh, dear,” thought Abigail to herself. “They have come much too early.”

With that thought, she settled her accounting with Marcus and he exited through the servants’ entrance. She then went to escort her guests into the courtyard. There, she settled her guests in the shade under the fig trees that lined the outdoor table and had the servant bring them milk and bread, as well as wash their feet.

It was then that Amos brought Mary and the puppies into the courtyard to show the guests the new additions to the household. Though Abigail’s first thought was to stop him from bringing Mary and the puppies into the yard, she paused and let enthusiastic Amos come forward.

Though there were some raised eyebrows in the company of the six visiting rabbis because dogs were outcasts within the Jewish community (see Leviticus 11: 27—“Of the animals that walk on all fours, those that have paws are unclean for you. If you touch the dead body of such an animal, you will be defiled until evening.”) It was then that Abigail stepped forward.

“Distinguished guests, I know that you are on your way to the Passover Feast. Though I have but a little knowledge of the Law of Moses, I know that Moses commanded us to show compassion to the suffering animals that come across our path. I take the responsibility for this pet that my son, Amos, brought home to us because she was in distress, being unjustly persecuted by some of the village boys. I trust that my action follows Moses’ command, blessings be upon him, that we should take pity and care for animals that are in distress. We must choose life.”

With that, Adonijah appeared behind his guests, who were taken by Abigail’s reasoning. Moreover, they had become intrigued by the way the puppies and the mother dog snuggled up to Amos, who was laughing and giggling as the puppies sought to be close to their mother.

“Dear Adonijah. We wish to thank you for your hospitality and hope our stay will not inconvenience you or the rest of your family. Dear Abigail, we thank YOU for your wisdom and kindness to the least of God’s creatures. Blessings be on this household.”

As the mid-day meal was fast approaching, Abigail further welcomed her guests and went about her duties of serving.

So, let us take from this story the fact that the Letter of the Law instructs us as in proper behavior so that we become holy as our God is holy, but the letter must always be balanced with compassion and mercy for these are also divine qualities that we should develop.

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williamlwolf89 · 4 years

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600+ Power Words That Pack a Punch and Convert like Crazy

Power words are like a “cheat code” for boosting conversion rates. Sprinkle in a few, and you can transform dull, lifeless words into persuasive words that compel readers to take action.

And the best part:

You can use them anywhere.

In this post, you’ll learn how to use power words like a kung fu master. Specifically:

The definition of power words (and why they’re so powerful);

The 7 types of power words proven to increase conversions;

Examples of how bloggers, writers, and businesses are using power words to boost conversions;

600+ powerful words you can use, bookmark, and reference (again and again).

Download All 600+ Power Words(in one handy, free PDF)

Let’s jump in.

What are Power Words?

Clear as mud?

Let’s deconstruct an example from the great Winston Churchill. All the power words are underlined:

Inspiring, right?

Well, there was a lot on the line. Under attack from Germany, Britain was fighting for its survival, and somehow, someway, Churchill had to find a way to inspire his countrymen to greatness.

He chose words. Or, to be more accurate, power words.

Each underlined word makes the audience feel something.

In this case, Churchill intermixes words that cause fear, such as “struggle,” “tyranny,” and “terror,” with words that cause hope, such as “strength,” “God,” and “victory.” The last, in particular, is repeated over and over, practically drilling the emotion into the minds of the audience.

It’s no accident.

Power Words = Emotional Words Packed with Persuasion

And it goes beyond speakers and storytellers.

Email marketing messages, resumes, copywriting, blog posts, infographics, step-by-step tutorials, sales copy, inspirational quotes, content marketing, and proposals are all designed to influence the reader in some way. You want to pass along information, yes, but you also want the reader to feel a certain way about that information.

So…

Looking for a quick way to give your writing more punch?

Maybe add a little personality or pizzazz — that extra little “oomph” that makes your reader pay attention?

Want to bring your ideas to life, to make them take up residence in the mind of the reader, lurking in the background, tugging, pulling, and cajoling their emotions until they think and feel exactly as you want?

Then you need to infuse your content with power words.

The 7 Different Types of Power Words

Fear Power Words

Encouragement Power Words

Lust Power Words

Anger Power Words

Greed Power Words

Safety Power Words

Forbidden Power Words

We’ve organized our power words into seven different types, which all accomplish the same goal: Each elicits emotion in your reader.

Let’s go over each type and see why these words work.

1. Fear Power Words

Let’s do a little experiment.

Just for a moment, stop reading this post, turn on the television, and go to a major news channel. Watch it for five minutes, listening for the words below.

Chances are, you’ll hear dozens of them. Here’s why:

Granted, you can overdo it, but in my opinion, most writers don’t use these types of words nearly enough. They really do connect with people.

How to Crank Up Emotion with Fear Words

Here’s an example of a blog post headline here at Smart Blogger that utilizes three different fear words:

Open it and you’re greeted by this fear-packed introduction:

I was in agony.

Pretty effective, right?

If you’d like to sprinkle fear power words into your writing, here are a bunch to get you started:

Agony Lunatic Apocalypse Lurking Armageddon Massacre Assault Meltdown Backlash Menacing Beating Mired Beware Mistake Blinded Murder Blood Nightmare Bloodbath Painful Bloodcurdling Pale Bloody Panic Blunder Peril Bomb Piranha Buffoon Pitfall Bumbling Plague Cadaver Played Catastrophe Plummet Caution Plunge Collapse Poison Corpse Poor Crazy Prison Cripple Pummel Crisis Pus Danger Reckoning Dark Refugee Deadly Revenge Death Risky Deceiving Scary Destroy Scream Devastating Searing Disastrous Shame Doom Shatter Drowning Shellacking Dumb Shocked Embarrass Silly Fail Slaughter Feeble Slave Fired Strangle Fool Stupid Fooled Suicide Frantic Tailspin Frightening Tank Gambling Targeted Gullible Teetering Hack Terror Hazardous Terrorist Hoax Torture Holocaust Toxic Horrific Tragedy Hurricane Trap Injure Vaporize Insidious Victim Invasion Volatile IRS Vulnerable Jail Warning Jeopardy Worry Lawsuit Wounded Looming Cringeworthy Last chance Fugacious

2. Encouragement Power Words

Let’s face it.

When they’re reading, most people aren’t exactly bouncing off the walls with energy and enthusiasm. They’re probably bored, maybe a little depressed, and almost definitely tired.

And they’re looking for something, anything, that’ll wake them up and make them feel better.

The good news?

Your writing can do that for them.

How to Crank Up Emotion with Encouragement Words

Here’s an example email from Mirasee:

With two encouraging words — life-changing and magic — in one subject, it’s an email that stands out in most inboxes.

Want to give your readers a pep talk and get them charged up again? Want to encourage them?

Use these persuasive words:

3. Lust Power Words

Like it or not, lust is one of the core human emotions.

Just look at the men’s and women’s magazines in the checkout aisle, and you’ll see what I mean. Nearly every headline on the cover is either blatantly or indirectly about sex.

And it works, not just for men’s and women’s magazines, but for anything.

As a writer, you can use words that inspire lust to make almost anything intriguing.

How to Crank Up Emotion with Lust Words

See if you can spot the lust words in this headline from Cosmopolitan:

Okay, the orange underlines probably give it away, but my hunch is you didn’t need them.

Power words like captivating and love jump off the page. And if you use them properly, they can stir all sorts of emotions in your readers’ heads.

Here’s a lascivious list of descriptive words to get you started:

Allure Naughty Arouse Nude Bare Obscene Begging Orgasmic Beguiling Passionate Brazen Pining Captivating Pleasure Charm Provocative Cheeky Racy Climax Raunchy Crave Risque Delight Rowdy Delirious Salacious Depraved Satisfy Desire Saucy Dirty Scandalous Divine Seduce Ecstasy Seductive Embrace Sensual Enchant Sex Enthralling Shameless Entice Sinful Entrance Sleazy Excite Sleeping Explicit Spank Exposed Spellbinding Fascinate Spicy Forbidden Steamy Frisky Stimulating Goosebumps Strip Hanker Sweaty Heavenly Tantalizing Hottest Taste Hypnotic Tawdry Impure Tease Indecent Tempting Intense Thrilling Intoxicating Tickle Itching Tight Juicy Tingle Kinky Turn on Kiss Unabashed Lascivious Uncensored Lewd Untamed Lick Untouched Lonely Urge Longing Voluptuous Love Vulgar Lure Wanton Luscious Wet Lush Whip Lust Wild Mischievous X-rated Mouth-watering Yearning Naked Yummy Sneak peek

4. Anger Power Words

As writers, sometimes our job is to anger people.

Not for the fun of it, mind you, but because someone is doing something wrong, and the community needs to take action to correct it.

The problem is, with wrongdoing, most people are pretty apathetic — they’ll wait until the situation becomes entirely intolerable to do anything, and by then, it’s often too late.

So, we have to fan the flames.

How to Crank Up Emotion with Anger Words

The authors of this Forbes headline don’t pull any punches:

I didn’t realize some people get angry over business jargon, but apparently it’s a thing. And this headline, undoubtedly, had such people frothing at the mouth.

If you want to connect with people’s anger and slowly but surely work them into a frenzy, use the power words below.

Just be careful who you target. Lawyers can eat you alive if you pick on the wrong person. 🙂

5. Greed Power Words

The legendary copywriter Gary Halbert once said, “If you want people to buy something, stomp on their greed glands until they bleed.” Graphic, yes, but also true.

Skim through good sales copy, and you’ll find a lot of these power words. Many of them are so overused they’ve become cliché, but that doesn’t stop them from working.

The truth is, nearly every human being on the planet is interested in either saving or making money.

How to Crank Up Emotion with Greed Words

Its explicit and implicit use of greed words makes this popular book from Dave Ramsey a great example:

“Money” is hard to miss — it’s probably the ultimate greed word and it’s sitting there in capital letters.

But a title like “Total Money Makeover” also implies another greed word (even though it doesn’t directly state it): money-saving.

(It also gets bonus points for using the safety power word “proven”, which we’ll discuss in a moment.)

If you want to stomp on your readers’ greed glands, use these power words:

6. Safety Power Words

Greed isn’t the only emotion you want buyers to feel. You also want to make them feel safe.

They need to trust both you and your product or service. They need to have confidence you’ll deliver, and they need to believe they’ll get results.

Of course, building that kind of trust starts with having a quality brand and reputation, but the words you use to describe yourself and your product or service also matter.

How to Crank Up Emotion with Safety Words

On the landing page for one of our Smart Blogger courses, we use power words to make sure our customers feel safe:

In addition to “legitimate” and “guaranteed” in the screenshot above, our landing page is sprinkled with numerous safety words:

Money-back

Results

Refund

Proven

Risk-free

They work for us, and they can work for you.

Help your customers feel safe by using as many of these power words as possible:

7. Forbidden Power Words

Remember when you were a kid, and someone told you NOT to do something? From that point on, you could think about little else, right?

The truth is, we’re all fascinated by the mysterious and forbidden. It’s like it’s programmed into our very nature.

So why not tap into that programming?

How to Crank Up Emotion with Forbidden Words

This Ahrefs article tempts you with its headline:

What’s the “secret”? Only one way to find out.

Whenever you want to create curiosity, sprinkle these power words throughout your writing, and readers won’t be able to help being intrigued:

Ancient Lost Backdoor Never seen before Banned Off the record Behind the scenes Off-limits Black Market Outlawed Blacklisted Private Bootleg Restricted Censored Sealed Classified Secret Cloak and dagger Smuggled Concealed Strange Confessions Tried to hide Confidential Unauthorized Controversial Uncensored Covert Under wraps Cover-up Undercover Exotic Underground Forbidden Under-the-table Forgotten Undisclosed From the vault Unexpected Hidden Unlock Hush-hush Unreachable Illegal Unspoken Insider Unveiled Little-known Withheld

Now that we’ve looked at the different types of power words (and gone over a few quick examples), let’s go over all the different places you can use them:

Powerful Words in Action: 14 Places Where Strong Words Can Help You

Headlines

Subheads

Email Subject Lines

Opt-In Boxes

Homepage

Business Names/Blog Names

Product Names

Sales Pages

Testimonials

Bullet Lists

Button Copy (Call to Action)

Author Bios

YouTube Videos

Book Titles

1. Using Power Words in Headlines

Any blogger who’s been in the game for a while knows the headline is the most important part of writing your blog post.

And just one or two power words in your headline is usually enough to make it stand out.

Just look at this headline from BuzzFeed:

The word “Unveiled” makes it feel like a secret is being exposed, and the word “Breathtaking” makes you curious to see what the photo looks like.

Here’s another example from BoredPanda:

People generally love anything adorable, so this headline will easily catch attention. (The fact that it refers to snakes will only make people more curious.)

The headline then drives it home by using the powerful verb “Conquer.”

Here’s one from BrightSide:

While one or two power words are often enough, this headline proves you can use more when it fits.

This headline has four powerful words, but they feel natural in the headline, which keeps it from feeling like over-the-top clickbait.

Last one:

This headline from our How to Make Money Writing: 5 Ways to Get Paid to Write in 2020 post incorporates two greed words: “money” and “get paid.”

It’s one of our most-popular posts, and its headline’s use of power words is a big reason why.

2. Using Power Words in Subheads

Too many writers overlook the value of subheads, which is a mistake. Once people click on your headline, most will scan the post first to see if it looks worthy of their attention.

Adding some power words to your subheads is a good way to make your post look like an interesting read.

For example, here are three subheads from our post on E-book mistakes:

See how the power words in these subheads grab your attention and make you want to read the text that follows?

Adding one or two power words to your subheads will compel readers to stick around longer, which will increase your dwell time — a big deal in Google’s eyes.

3. Using Power Words in Email Subject Lines

Having an email list is of little use if only a handful of readers bother to open your emails.

And these days, most people’s inboxes are flooded, so they’re selective in which emails they open.

You can stand out in their inbox and raise your open rates by including power words in your subject lines.

Just look at this one from Ramit Sethi:

If this subject line would’ve read “The rules of learning,” do you think it would be as appealing? The word “unspoken” is what makes it interesting.

Here’s another one from Cal Fussman:

Both “Triumph” and “Tragedy” are powerful words full of emotion.

And finally, here’s a good example from AppSumo:

The power phrase “Unleash the power” makes you feel this email is hiding something incredibly powerful inside.

See how that works?

When you send out emails to your list, try to add a power word to your subject line so it stands out in readers’ inboxes.

4. Using Power Words in Opt-In Boxes

As a blogger, one of your main goals is to grow a large and engaged readership, and the best way to do it is by converting readers into subscribers.

That means — unless you’re using a blogging platform like Medium which doesn’t allow them — you should have opt-in forms scattered across your website.

You can place them on your homepage, at the end of your posts, in your sidebar, in a popup, or anywhere else.

But no matter where you place them, your opt-in boxes must catch people’s eye and make them want to share their email address with you. Because they won’t give it away to just anyone.

(Remember, their inboxes are already flooded, so they’re not necessarily eager to get even more emails.)

Fortunately, you can use power words to make your offer more enticing.

As an example, here’s an old popup from Cosmopolitan:

This popup had power words everywhere, but it avoided feeling like overkill. I bet it converted like crazy.

Here’s a slightly more subtle example from Betty Means Business:

It’s understated, but still quite effective.

Again, you don’t have to overdo it with the power words on these. A little can go a long way.

Here’s one final example from Renegade Planner:

In short:

If you’re not using power words in your opt-in boxes, you’re missing out.

Big time.

5. Using Power Words on Your Homepage

In any case, your homepage is a good spot to add a few power words, as it can determine whether people stay (and take the action you want them to take) or leave (never to return).

Look at this value proposition on the homepage for Nerd Fitness:

“Nerds,” “Misfits,” and “Mutants” are unusual power words that work well for the audience Nerd Fitness is targeting. These words immediately separate it from all the other fitness blogs out there.

But they push it even further with “Strong,” “Healthy,” and “Permanently.”

Here’s another value proposition from MainStreetHost’s homepage:

It’s quite minimal, isn’t it? They just wrote down three power words and follow it up with a service they provide.

Of course, you don’t have to limit your use of power words to the top of your homepage.

You can use it in other parts of the homepage too, as Ramit Sethi does here in his list of what you’ll get when you sign up for his email list:

Go look at your homepage now and see if you can find any areas you can spruce up with some power words.

6. Using Power Words in Business Names/Blog Names

Having a forgettable name is poison to your website’s growth. So when you start a blog, you want to make sure you have a name people can easily recall.

Just take a look at the collection of blog names below and see how well they’ve incorporated power words:

7. Using Power Words in Product Names

Just like you can use power words to spruce up your blog name, you can also use them to make your product names pack more of a punch.

It can make the difference between your potential customers thinking, “Ooh, this product sounds cool!” and them thinking, “Meh.”

Just check out this subscription product from Nerd Fitness:

It has such a powerful name that you’d almost want to sign up without learning anything else about it. Who wouldn’t want to be part of a community of rising heroes?

Here’s another good example from Pat Flynn:

It’s a powerful name for his podcasting course that instantly informs you of the benefit.

So if you’re about to launch a product (or if you’ve launched a product with a tepid name), consider giving it a power word to make it pack a punch.

8. Using Power Words on Sales Pages

You can also use power words to spruce up your sales pages and make them more effective at selling your e-commerce products or services.

They will grab people’s attention when they arrive on the page, they will keep their attention as they scroll down, and they’ll help seduce readers before they reach your “buy” button.

Just look at this headline on Ramit Sethi’s sales page for his product 50 Proven Email Scripts (which also has a power word in its name):

And as you scroll down, you see he keeps using power words throughout his sales page.

His headline is followed by emotion-packed subheads:

And he even uses power words in his guarantee:

9. Using Power Words in Testimonials

Power words are also tremendously effective in testimonials.

Of course, I’m not suggesting you change people’s testimonials to include power words. But you can certainly select the ones that already use them to great effect.

Just look at this example from Betty Means Business:

Or look at this one from Farideh’s blog:

And here’s another example from Renegade Planner:

All these testimonials will lend extra credibility and excitement due to their power words and phrases.

10. Using Power Words in Bullet Lists

You can use power words in these lists to inspire more excitement in your reader as they read through them.

Here’s one example from Ramit Sethi’s sales page for his How to Talk to Anyone course:

And here’s another example from an opt-in form on Restart Your Style:

Without these power words, these lists wouldn’t convince nearly as many readers to buy or subscribe.

11. Using Power Words in Button Copy and CTA (Call to Action)

Yep, you can use power words in your button copy too — even if you only have a few words you can fit in there.

One of the most common power words used in buttons is “Free” (as in the example below):

But you can be more creative with buttons than you might think.

Takes this button from the sales page for the book The Renegade Diet:

“Immediate,” “Money Back,” and “Guarantee” are all incredibly powerful words, and the author manages to squeeze them all into one button.

Here’s an example from Tim Ferris:

He could’ve used “Send Me the List” as most people would do, but “Unlock” makes it sound a lot more intriguing — like you’re getting access to something that’s been kept hidden away.

Now take a look at the buttons on your site.

Do you see any opportunities to spruce them up with a power word?

12. Using Power Words in Author Bios

Your author bio is another extremely important part of your marketing.

When you guest post for another blog (or write a paid article as a freelancer), your author bio has the difficult job of making readers want to know more about you so they click through to your site.

That means your author bio needs to spark attention and interest. And you usually only get three sentences, so you need to carefully consider the words you use.

As an example, here’s the author bio from Henneke Duistermaat in her post on overcoming writer’s block:

Henneke’s author bio is full of power words. It shows her uniqueness and makes her stand out from other copywriters.

You can tell she has carefully picked each perfect word for maximum impact.

Here’s another example from Sarah Peterson’s post on blog ads:

She opens strong immediately by mentioning her guides are insanely useful. And just the name of her report alone is full of power words: “Free,” “Reveal,” and “Begging.”

Makes you want to get your hands on that report, doesn’t it?

13. Using Power Words on YouTube Videos

If you’re publishing videos on YouTube and you want to get more views, you should use power words in your titles.

All the biggest YouTube channels do this.

They understand most of their views will come from their subscribers finding them in their feeds, and from people finding them in the sidebar of other videos.

In both cases, you’re competing with many other videos for their attention. If you want your video to stand out and be the one they choose to watch, your title has to be captivating.

See how Philip DeFranco does it below:

“Disgusting,” “Punishment,” and “Controversy” are all attention-grabbing words (and that’s besides the attention-grabbing names of Brock Turner, Star Wars, and Kim Kardashian).

Note also how he has capitalized “Disgusting.” It’s another smart trick many YouTube channels use to stand out more in YouTube’s lists of video suggestions.

Style vlogger Aaron Marino often does it as well:

By capitalizing the power words “Don’ts” and “Stupid,” his title catches a lot more attention (as you can see for yourself by the millions of views it’s received).

14. Using Power Words in Book Titles

If you’re interested in writing your own book, adding power words to your titles will help it sell better.

With all the competition in the book market these days, you need a title that grabs people’s attention and makes them want to peek inside.

Here are a few quick grabs from Amazon’s list of bestsellers in the self-help niche:

I’m sure you’ve seen this title before.

You might say Stephen Covey’s use of power words in his title has been highly effective. (See what I did there?)

Here’s another:

Mark Manson’s bestselling title is packed with power.

The power word “Subtle” juxtaposes well with the F-bomb in the title, and his use of “Counterintuitive” will spark some interest as well.

One more:

Lastly, Jen Sincero’s encouraging book title makes you want to flip it open and read it in one go.

The use of “Badass” alone will make it stand out in the self-development section, but her use of “Greatness” and “Awesome” in the subtitle truly seals the deal.

Go Ahead and Tell Me. What Powerful Words Did I Miss?

They’re known by many names…

Emotion words. Good words. Strong words. Powerful words, creative words, fancy words, sensory words, trigger words, smart words, feeling words, descriptive words, impactful words, interesting words, positive words, unique words, and even — yes, seriously — awesome words.

Yes, this is an enormous list of words, but with so many power words available, you’d need a thesaurus or Word of the Day dictionary to catch every single word on the first pass. (Plus, new words seem to be added to the English language every day.)

What are some other good words that seem to have that extra little spark of emotion inside them?

Leave your answer in the comments, and as time goes by, I’ll come back periodically and update the power words list. Eventually, I hope to have over 1,000 words here, separated and organized by category, making this the definitive “cheat sheet” of favorite power words on the web.

Thanks in advance for commenting and sharing the post with your friends!

About the Author: Jon Morrow has asked repeatedly to be called “His Royal Awesomeness” but no one listens to him. So, he settles for CEO of Smart Blogger. Poor man. 🙂

The post 600+ Power Words That Pack a Punch and Convert like Crazy appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/power-words/

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