Putting the finishing touches on some conference marketing copy, I'll change a reference to "Pre-Con Workshops" to "Pre-Conference Workshops." Why? First off, you don't want "Con" to appear anywhere in marketing material, just as you don't want "Death" to appear on hospital walls. But more importantly, "Pre-Con" is conference-goon talk, and it belongs strictly in back room.
Do you look forward, when you see it on a cocktail party invitation, to eating a lot of "heavy hors d'eauvres"? No. That's caterer talk that never should have gotten out of the kitchen, but did.
Similarly, unless you're a CBS shareholder, how viscerally exciting did you find it to learn last week that Stephen Colbert's new executive producer Chris Licht is looking forward to "the chance to work with Stephen and help build a valuable late night franchise"?
Build a valuable franchise? Is he taking over a comedy show, or the Taco Bell out on Old Route Eight?
You have to doubt the showbiz instincts of a guy who talks like that.
Or at least the ability of the PR person who wrote the quote, to know the difference between the firm's inside voice and its outside voice. Which, if you're a PR pro, is kind of why they pay you.
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