Those who know me well, know that I love the comedy of George Carlin… I posted a lot about him in the past and remembered him in this blog when he passed away last year… Him and Bill Hicks were my favourite US comedians… 

One of George Carlin’s best-known routines, from the 1970s, was about the seven words that you can never say on television.

In the modern world, if you use words in a similar vein on your blog, especially in a blog entry title, you go and get yourself lots of hits. Hmmmm… What is going on here? Let me explain…

Over the last few years of blogging regularly here… My blog entry titles that have had the most hits are these:

My Swear Word Rant — Not For The Faint Of Heart
Is Masturbation A Powerful Form Of Self-Hypnosis?
Is Labour One Of The Most Hypnotic Words For Women?
Myra Hindley Petitioned Government For Hypnosis!
“Fat, ugly & shitter than Winehouse” — Lily Allen

I used a couple of seemingly non-progressive words in the titles. In each case, I was discussing a salient point, but to be honest, and you know this by now as a regular reader… I was also wanting to be provocative.

Shock. Horror.

Mission accomplished, at least to judge by the very large number of hits these entries have received compared to almost all of the others I have written.

Other entries that I have put much, MUCH more effort into, that have been more deeply researched, that I have invested more of myself into, that were genuinely better blog entries, do not get as much coverage if the title is less provocative!

It this a sign of the times we live in? Do you we need to be provoked or stimulated enough to go and read a blog entry?

It does seems a fair conclusion that the attention of many regular online readers is drawn to words that promise outrage… Words that to quote Carlin will “infect your soul and curve your spine.” Hahaha….

In my work, having spent so many years encouraging people in seminars, therapy and training courses, that I am incredibly progressive and positive with my language… It is naturally who I am today…  As I have become older, I am congruent with how and who I am… I mean, I teach people to communicate in a progressive and often hypnotic manner, I need to show that I do the same as a matter of course, don;t I?

Therefore, my vocabulary has become heavily punctuated with words that are nice, empowering, kind, positive and so on… Surely this is a good thing… Though not if you want to encourage more readers it would seem…

So where do you go to get the right balance? Well, this blog is an overt attempt at that… On display here.

This blog of course is not about shocking. If you have read any of my entries here, including the provocatively-titled ones, you know my opinion about what really matters: other people, life, hypnosis, having fun and enjoying our existence.

I think one day, when I am nearing the end of my career, I will post an entry that uses all of Carlin’s words in the title. Man, that blog entry would get a lot of hits I think… Is swearing and shocking language the most hypnotically response-inducing language on the planet, do you think?