What do Labradoodles, Pokémon and cosplayers have in common? 

No, they’re not all part of some bizarre cult (although that would be something to behold).

And only Labradoodles are taking over North London (seriously – they’re the new must-have accessory for any middle-class family here.)

They’re actually all portmanteau words – they blend the sounds and meanings of two other words to create a new one, like brunch (breakfast + lunch) or glamping (glamorous + camping).

One I came across recently is ‘satisficing’ – a blend of ‘satisfy’ and ‘sacrifice’.

Coined by Steve Krug in his excellent book Don’t Make Me Think, satisficing refers to how we consume information on the internet.

We ruthlessly zoom in on the information we need to satisfy our need, and we sacrifice or blank out everything else.

So if you’re writing anything that’s going to be read online – your LinkedIn profile, company bio, web page, product info – remember this:

Give your reader what they want and cut the waffle.

Because your 1200 words of beautifully drafted prose just ain’t gonna get read.

Save yourself time and effort and give your readers some, er, satisfiction.  Or something like that.