Thinkshift has added its name to the California Business Alliance for a Green Economy, joining more  than 750 businesses, small and large, that have signed on with the organization. (As has our client, New Resource Bank.) It’s a nonprofit, “created to amplify the business voice in support of policies to help move us toward cleaner energy, less dependence on fossil fuel, and to help us avoid the economic and social disruptions associated with climate change.” The organization supports AB 32, California’s groundbreaking Global Warming Solutions Act.

The Alliance website has good background info, including the March 24 news that the California Air Resources Board analysis of AB 32 shows that it will have a positive effect on the economy and a roundup of op-ed pieces from around the state, both pro and anti.

Go ahead, sign on with the Alliance—it’s an easy way to show your support for a growing, more sustainable economy in the state. Of course, this is a simple step, but every little bit helps, and we think that taking action to develop a clean energy economy is one of the most important things anyone can do to fight pollution and climate change.

I usually blog about bigger-picture communications strategy issues, but my alter ego the Grammar Queen has been fighting to get out over the weird obsession with word repetition.

We hear from clients all the time, when reviewing all kinds of writing—articles, marketing copy, taglines—”But isn’t it bad to repeat a word?” Sometimes it is. Sometimes it’s good. And sometimes it just doesn’t matter.

I suspect that confusion on this points stems from a misunderstanding about why word repetition is sometimes bad. It’s not necessarily that repeated words make for monotonous writing (though they certainly can); it’s that repeated words often signal hazy ideas. Here’s a a simple example: The sentence, “We had a great meal at this great restaurant in a great neighborhood,” is obviously lame. Many people would think the way to fix it is to find synonyms for great. But is “We had a great meal at this excellent restaurant in a fabulous neighborhood” really any better? (Hint: no.) That’s because word repetition here is only a symptom of the real problem. “We had a great meal at this new restaurant in my favorite neighborhood” is a better expression of the thought because the new adjectives are not synonyms—they’re more precise information.

If you read something that repeats words and seems bland and uninformative, it’s usually not because the writer failed to use a thesaurus; more likely they failed to think through what they wanted to say and communicate that precisely.

When is word repetition good? When you want to convey the same information about different things: “Great for kids. Great for parents.” When you want to emphasize a subject: “It was the most fabulous shoe I’d ever seen. It was the shoe of my dreams.” (Substituting footwear for the second shoe would only drain the ardor.) Or when you want to create a transition: “The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain. That plain is where two-thirds of Spain’s … .”  (Substituting flatland for plain would not aid comprehension.)

As the Grammar Queen has frequently observed, the first prerequisite of good writing is good thinking.