Darr-en Transitive verb 1 To use racial epithets to refer to a member of another racial group. 2 To racially abuse another individual. 3 To explain the repeated use of verboten racist epithets on the grounds of anger, stress and/or drunkenness. 4 (Possible future use) To beg forgiveness for the use of racist language. Noun […]
Sarah Britten
During the day Sarah Britten is a communication strategist; by night she writes books and blog entries. And sometimes paints. With lipstick. It helps to have insomnia.
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Nonhle and the Saab
So Nonhle Thema drives a Saab. We know this because she tweeted about it today, twice. To whit: “My SAAB was custom made for me.No one else has it General Motors did this for me a gift ” and “And my car was half a mill…thank u General Motors”. 75 627 people follow Nonhle, ready to […]
Posted inBusiness, Media
How much do CVs still matter?
When was the last time somebody asked you for your CV? I’m not talking about the notion of a CV in the broader sense, the what-I-did-when — that will always be relevant when you need to send off a profile to, say, the conference organizer who wants you as a speaker. What I mean is […]
Posted inMedia
Why does everyone hate Crocs?
Over the weekend, I did something completely out of character. I bought a pair of Crocs. Yes, really. I don’t care if you unfollow me or stop reading this blog. It’s best you know the truth: I spotted them in the shoe shop near my gym, and my mother has a pair and swears by […]
Posted inMedia
Why ideas are terrifying
“To come up with a great idea you’ve got to come up with a lot of stupid ones,” said FNB CEO Michael Jordaan at the YFM event I attended the other night. His comment struck a chord with me because as it happens, I’d been thinking about ideas all day. Not so much ideas themselves, […]
Posted inMedia
Donkeys and dragons: Facing extinction?
So KFC in Australia will no longer provide free toys with their kids’ meals. Three years ago the company committed itself to putting a stop to “pester power” and this is a major signal of the seriousness of its intention. My sense is that this is part of a broader trend. Given South Africa’s appetite […]
Posted inLifestyle
Divorce: Yes, there is an upside
Over the past couple of days I’ve had conversations with two straight male friends of mine. One is going through an acrimonious and horribly expensive divorce; the other is a serial dater looking unsuccessfully for love. I always like to lend a sympathetic ear and an ergonomic shoulder, and I’ve come out of the experience […]
Posted inLifestyle
Coming out of the granny closet
Today I had a powerful flashback to the single most awful, humiliating moment in the entire awful, humiliating process that was the implosion of my life after I was retrenched from my job in Sydney in November 2008. It was at a dinner party more than a year ago. We were about to pile into […]
Posted inLifestyle
Don’t take breathing for granted
As I type this on my phone, I’m using a borrowed nebuliser, waiting for the Ventolin to take effect. The steam is fogging up my glasses, making it hard to see what I’m doing. Autocorrect is having a field day: when I make a typo, leaving out the l in “bronchodilator”, it offers “neon Jedi […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
The horror of chav brands
I was mortified. Utterly mortified. I’d gone along to the excruciatingly charming wedding venue in Oxfordshire – not far from where Rebekah Brooks and David Cameron live – to see how my brother was doing with preparations for the reception the following day, and the moment he spots my shoes, he bursts out laughing. They […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Why I like movies about losers
I like movies about losers. Not depressing movies about social issues, you understand – not movies that make you want to slit your wrists because my God the world is a miserable place with precious little opportunity for redemption. No, I mean wry, funny movies about lovable losers whose failures point to the fundamental unfairness […]
Posted inLifestyle
Why broken windows matter
Gravity is good for business. People are always dropping their phones, the assistant tells me, especially the iPhone 4. I’ve brought mine here to the iPhone repair shop in the middle of klinkerbrick Nowheresville in North Riding. I was expecting a dodgy hole in the wall, and it looks like a dodgy hole in the […]