Author: Jessie

In journalism and publishing, “TK” is a placeholder term that stands for “to come.” It’s used in draft copy to indicate that information will be added at a later point. This is often used when the writer or editor doesn’t have all the necessary information at the moment of writing but does not want to disrupt the flow of their work. Or it’s used because you just don’t feel like figuring something out at the time.

The reason for using “TK” rather than “TC” (the initials of “to come”) is that “TK” is an uncommon letter combination in English. Unless you’re writing about latkes, pocketknives, or the Atkins diet. Leaving a TK in a document means you can search for it later and fill in the blanks when you’re ready.

FPO stands for “For Placement Only” or “For Position Only.” It’s a term often used in the graphic design or advertising industries to refer to placeholder text, images, or graphics in a layout. These placeholders indicate where the final content will eventually be placed, but are not intended to be the final content themselves. They help designers and teams visualize the design or layout while the final content is being created or finalized.

When selecting FPO stock imagery, it can be difficult to get the client to look past the specifics and see the greater layout. They may get stuck on the various demographics of the model. Use the opportunity to hear their feedback, taking notes on how they react to your temporary talent.

Years ago, Chinese food menus were formatted as column A and column B. In a standard order, you might select items from both columns. This is also the origin of the phrase, “a little from column A, a little from column B.” Those menus aren’t really in use anymore. So using the terminology “Chinese menu” as a verb can confuse your coworkers.

But you may still want to talk about combining elements from multiple options to form a final product. Here are a few options to try out:

• Mix and match
• Hodgepodge
• Fuse
• Merge
• Hybrid
• Mixture
• Amalgamation
• Mélange
• Medley
• Patchwork
• Composite
• Frankenstein (negative connotation, for deterrence)

You see it all the time in branding. They slap a capital letter in the middle of a word. A few examples are iPhone, eBay, or FedEx.

This technique goes by many names. There’s camelcase, camelcaps, or humpback. My favorite is camelback. Because then I get to laugh about the brand CamelBak, who put a camelback in their brand name!