2022.05.03 – 0488 – The ‘Word Merge’
As we saw much earlier, stringing words together can be good because talking too precisely leads to a clunky script.
Another issue is, and again we touched on this before, the ‘glottal stop’ – where the last letter of one word is the same as the next word starts with:
· You never forget your first time
· It’s often a good idea to keep pet insurance
· It’s silky smooth and soft to touch
· It’s a red danger zone
· She’s the Parks Supervisor
I’m sure you can think of several more examples, where saying the words ‘properly’ would cause a mini-pause mid-flow and a clunky read. Did you spot where they were in the sentences above? I’ve underlined them for you:
· You never forget your first time
· It’s often a good idea to keep pet insurance
· It’s silk smooth and soft to touch
· It’s a red danger zone
· She’s the Parks Supervisor
If saying those sentences spontaneously, we’d naturally merge the two words together:
· You never forget your firs-time
· It’s often a good idea to kee-pet insurance
· It’s silk smooth and sof-to touch
· It’s a re-danger zone (although you may separate ‘red’ and ‘danger’ to make it clear that it’s not an ‘amber’ zone for example, as the context suggests the information is important)
· She’s the Park-Supervisor (although you may separate ‘Parks’ and Supervisor’ to make it clear that she is the supervisor of several parks – Parks’ Supervisor - rather than one – Park Supervisor.)
Remember, remove some letters to keep a smooth flow, to be ‘conversationally clear’, as long as that style fits with the request, the target audience and the brand.
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