Word of the Week

Anecdote Definition

An anecdote is often a short story or explanation of an event. Anecdotes are a story of a particular incident but from a personal viewpoint.

They can be serious, but are often told with a humorous twist. Writing great anecdotes is not easy, because of their sheer simplicity and wide scope of reference.

The best thing about anecdotes is that they are short and succinct, making them more exciting and straight forward. We encourage you to view some of the examples here and try your hand at developing your style.

Heart

This week’s Word of the Week is an anecdote about Heart Health. February is American Heart Health Month. Cadiovascular diseases including strokes are the number one killer amongst Americans.

There are some simple steps one can take to substantially reduce one’s risk of getting a heart attack or stroke. Here are the top three examples in my personal view: -

1. Regular Exercise
2. Eating a low fat and low sodium diet with loads of fresh vegetables and fruit.
3. Relaxation – Trying to reduce stress levels at work and at home by practising good relaxation techniques like yoga or meditation.

Check out the American Heart Association’s Life Check to see how you can make small changes that will have a huge impact on your health and quality of life.

Grateful

This week’s anecdote and Word of the Week is all to do with being thankful for what you have.

After the horrific disaster in Haiti that has possibly billed thousands of people, you have to take a step back and think about what is really important. It is very easy to complain and whinge about the uncomfortable things in ones life.

So on this rather cold Thursday morning in Connecticut, I will not bemoan the weather or the remnants of snow outside my front door. I won’t groan when it takes five minutes for the heat to start working in the car or when it takes forever to defrost the windscreen.

I will be grateful.

Yule Log

This ancient anecdote is about how a pagan tradition has been borrowed from the Norse Mythos by some Christians. In ancient times people burned logs to appease the gods and to celebrate their conviction to the powers of the gods. During festivals, Norsemen honored the father of the Gods Odin and the god Jólnir. Jólnir was commonly known as the Yule Father.

The original Yule Log burning ceremony started on the winter solstice. At 5:47 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time Monday December 21, in the Northern Hemisphere marked the mid-point of the year. The winter solstice marks the day with the fewest hours of daylight and a Yule Log was ceremonially burned.

Because the burning of the Yule Log took place near Christmas people still practice the tradition today. This practice is one of the many pagan rituals absconded by Christianity as part of the Christmas celebration. Thank god for pagans!

Regret

Today’s Word of the Week has another personal anecdote attached to it. Earlier this week I placed a rather terse and accusatory post on one of my social networking sites. It wasn’t pretty I can assure you.

I had felt slighted and a bit put off by the direction of the site that has been going downhill for a while. Forums are a dying breed and that, my dear, is a very sad thing indeed. Everyone just wants to “twitter” in short nonsensical bursts or “beat their chests” on other personal sites. Neither one tickles my fancy and both are rather off putting, in my view.

Once I hit the post button, I instantly regretted doing it. Rarely am I that impulsive but stress gets to us all occasionally. Luckily for me the few members left set me straight and I have to be grateful for that. It would have been easy for them to give it to me in the neck because I was acting like Shrek in a frock!

All is well now at etaBlog. Serenity has been restored.

Customer

This week’s Word of the Week has an anecdote attached to it. So if anyone has been following the saga of my car will know, I had a problem with the emissions. I recently had some repairs done which supposedly fixed the problem. To be quite honest the car is idling properly and drives a lot smoother so in my view it has worked.

So today I took it back in to have it run through the state emissions test again. Unfortunately the chap who had done the initial repairs was not in and would not be in until the afternoon. Also the usual receptionist behind the desk was missing in action. I approached the counter and was met by a deathly glance. The gentleman – well he really wasn’t a gentleman – stared back at his computer screen before mumbling something indicating he wanted to know why I was there.

I stated that I had just had some repairs done and asked for Willy. He again didn’t turn away from whatever he was doing and stated blankly that Willy wasn’t there and would be in later on. I kindly retorted that I would come back later on. To which I got no response and not even a glance as I headed quickly for the exit.

To any normal person this may seem trivial but I am a bit of a pain in the arse when it comes to customer service. In my view that’s where the sale begins and seeing as I had already given this shop $400 of my hard earned cash, I would have been grateful if the “gentleman” standing in behind the desk would have had the courtesy to address me directly by looking me in the eye.

Luckily for this company the rest of the staff have been very friendly and more than helpful so this one little faux pas will escape my wrath. However, if it comes down to good customer service over getting a bargain I will occasionally pick customer service and that is something all businesses should never consider skimping on.