10 Smart Ways to Improve Your Chances for a Raise

All across America, it is performance review time — the annual ritual of nervousness and wincing when everyone from interns to executives gears up to receive critical feedback about their work. In addition to the evaluation of performance and success, this is the time when managers and HR pros decide on bonuses, promotions, and raises.

While employees probably cannot turn the tide of a poor performance streak, there are behaviors you can practice that will improve your chances for a raise this review cycle or next.

Here’s When to Say ‘Happy Holidays’ Instead of ‘Merry Christmas’

It’s that time of year… when you dread every interaction because you don’t know whether to say “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Holidays,” “Season’s Greetings,” or maybe some secret salutation you don’t even know yet. So what are you supposed to say?

In general, “Happy Holidays” is accepted as the broadest and most inclusive greeting at this time of year. If you know someone celebrates Christmas you can go with “Merry Christmas,” but ‘tis the season for interacting with strangers (selling to them, buying from them, bumping into them on your way out of Target).

Empathy vs. Sympathy

• Empathy is a term we use for the ability to understand other people’s feelings as if we were having them ourselves.
• Empathy can also mean projecting our own feeling onto a work of art or another object.
• Sympathy refers to the ability to take part in someone else’s feelings, mostly by feeling sorrowful about their misfortune.
• Sympathy can also be used in relation to opinions and taste, like when you say that you have sympathy for a political cause.

Monday Motivation Hack: Set Your Work Boundaries

We’re not going to advise you to just “deal with it” when a coworker talks too much, listens to music too loudly, wears too much perfume, doesn’t meet deadlines, or does just about any other irritating thing people do at work.

This is about understanding your personal tolerance level at work and clearly communicating it to those around you without burning bridges.

12 Aquatic Collective Nouns That Will Make Your Heart Squee

You know what to call a group of cows or sheep, but do you know the names for groups of animals in the ocean? Why neglect your friends under the sea? Learn which animals congregate in a cast today!

Army of Herring

Attention! Most fish swim in schools, but herring swim in armies.

Bed of Oysters

Buried in the sand of the ocean floor or on the beach, you can find a bed of oysters.

The Mother of All Blog Posts

According to History.com, a woman named Anna Jarvis created the American version of the holiday in 1908, prompted by the passing of her own mother. It became an official holiday in 1914. Jarvis later denounced the commercialization of the holiday and tried to have it removed from the calendar!

Here are some fascinating facts about Mother’s Day:

• More phones calls are made on Mother’s Day than any other day of the year, with a spike in traffic of as much as 37 percent.

Monday Motivation Hack: Coffee Alternatives

You’re jittery, sweaty, and unable to focus. What had seemed like the perfect dose of java to power all your feats of Monday superheroism has betrayed you.

In the throes of a caffeine come-down, as you blearily attempt to finish drafting your project update, you swear:

“I’m going to quit coffee.”

Though there are good reasons for healthy people to consume coffee in moderation, some individuals may find themselves overdoing it or may be simply too sensitive to the acidity or caffeine.

“Which Celebrity Writer Is Just Like You?” Quiz

When it comes to writing and celebrity, most people assume all celebrities use ghostwriters. These stars—among others—prove that point wrong. We’ve analyzed a list of talented celebrities and built a quiz to help you find out which celebrity writer is just like you.

What do you think? Did we get it right? Share your reactions in the comments.

10 Interesting Facts About the English Language that You Didn’t Know

Guest Post by Rochelle Ceira

Did you know that enneacontakaienneagon is actually a word in the English language? (And you thought pronouncing supercalifragilisticexpialidocious was difficult?). In fact, the meaning of the word is just as bizarre as the word itself: it’s a shape with ninety-nine sides.

 

Compared to other languages, English may seem simple, but that is probably because most people don’t realize it is full of crazy inventions, misinterpretations, mistakes, strange words, and needless words!

Speak Like a Scientist: 4 Words to Try Using Differently

Scientific writing is known for its precision and accuracy. Other forms of written and spoken communication, however, are often filled with confusing and ambiguous vocabulary. Here are four words we’ve poached from the scientific world that should be adopted in non-scientific communication.

Abstract In scientific writing, an abstract summarizes the key points of a presentation or paper.

The Dark Side of Mother Goose

Murder, torture, mass death by plague…not exactly the stuff of children’s literature, right? Actually, if you read the rhymes of Mother Goose, it is. Most people don’t realize the macabre history of these innocuous-sounding rhymes, but dig beneath the surface, and you’ll find Mother Goose poetry is chock-full of gruesome imagery.

In fact, many of today’s nursery rhymes are sanitized versions of the grim originals.

How to Date Introverts, From an Introvert

Dear Prospective Dates,

We need to talk. After a string of meh encounters, it’s time to clear the air: I’m a lady introvert*, and the way you’ve been going about courtship just isn’t working. As an introvert, I need a much lower level of mental stimulation to operate than ambiverts or extroverts require. Though everyone is different, you should know that we introverts don’t like “typical” dating approaches.

Funner vs. More Fun

• As a noun, fun means enjoyment.
• Fun is not universally accepted as an adjective. People who do accept it as an adjective seem to prefer more fun and most fun over funner and funnest.

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Whether fun or more fun is correct seems like a simple question, but the answer isn’t exactly straightforward. To understand, you must examine the background of the word fun. Let’s get started.