Weener or Winer?

Congressman Anthony Weiner has chosen to pronounce his name "Wee-ner." However, he might have saved himself a bit of ribbing throughout his life if he had pronounced it as it should be: "Winer." In German, you always pronounce the second letter in an ei/ie combination.

The name Weiner means "one who makes wine," while the name Wiener means "one who is from Vienna" (spelled Wien in German). Americans have adopted the word "wiener" for sausages that originated in Vienna -- and for the subject of Mr. Weiner's Twitter photos.

Sure, Rep. Weiner would still endure plenty of ridicule in light of the current scandal. But the pundits would have had to work a bit harder.

Wisdom from "Rework"

From the authors of the bestselling business book, "Rework," comes this advice:

The less you understand about programming, the more you’re going to rely on this person to translate what’s going on to you. That’s why hiring great writers, regardless of the position, is a good idea.

Obviously, this is directed toward those who are hiring programmers. But at a time when most business communication is written, the ability to communicate well in writing is critical to nearly every position.

Kudos to Bob Greene

In a recent column entitled "Typos -- no big deal? Think again," CNN contributor Bob Greene explains why typos really do matter.

Career Advice from Carlyle Group's David Rubenstein

"Richard Neustadt wrote a famous book called The Power of the Presidency, and he said the power of the presidency is the power to persuade. That's true of all business activities. You're really persuading people through writing or oral communications. So learning how to persuade people, how to communicate, is very important."

Student Reading Skills Remain Poor

According to the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress report, reading skills among school children have shown little improvement over the past 17 years.

Specifically, fourth grade students scored 221 out of 500 in 2009, vs. 217 in 1992. Eighth graders scored 264 in 2009, vs. 260 in 1992. In both cases, the improvement amounted to less than one percent.

Reading is a critical skill in today's information-driven world. And, it is a prerequisite for good writing.

Guy Kawasaki's Words of Wisdom

In a New York Times interview, Guy Kawasaki of Garage Technology Ventures (and an early Apple employee) offers these words of wisdom:

Q: What should business schools teach more of, or less of?
A: They should teach students how to communicate in five-sentence e-mails, and with 10-slide PowerPoint presentations. If they just taught every student that, American business would be much better off.

Q: And what would you say to business school graduates?
A: Success in business comes from the willingness to grind it out. It's not because of a brilliant idea. It's because you're willing to work hard. That's the key to my success.

Lower Editing Standards for Online Magazines

A research project conducted by the Columbia Journalism Review found that many magazines apply lower standards when copy-editing and fact-checking the online versions of their publications.

According to the study, 48% of magazines copy-edit less rigorously for their online publications than their printed publications, while 11% do not copy-edit at all. At the same time, 27% fact-check their online content less rigorously than their print content.

One reason for the lack of rigorous standards is that online editions of popular magazines are provided free of charge -- including, we should note, the Columbia Journalism Review. Only 14% of online publications charge for any or all of their content.

Readers are getting what they pay for, and it's time for a change in this broken business model.