Whimsical

What it looks like

• Gives ordinary things unexpected stories, such as a name for the office plant or a secret life for the cat.
• Adds odd, charming touches to a drawing, a letter or a lunchbox note that nobody asked for.
• Follows an imaginative tangent for the fun of it, then comes back to the task.

Fits when a person's humor and imagination take charmingly unexpected turns

Not when choices are unreliable, arbitrary, or unsuitable for a practical duty

How to say it

Replace the brackets with what the person actually did.

There is no resume line for this one: as a claim about yourself it can suggest unreliable choices, and the word is more at home in a story or a tribute. In creative work, use it of the style, such as whimsical illustrations in a portfolio, rather than of the person.

• [Name] brings a whimsical touch to [design, writing or teaching]: their [illustrations, stories or displays] are full of small surprises, and they still meet every brief and deadline.

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• [Name] writes stories full of unexpected, charming ideas, such as [example], and they are a pleasure to read aloud.

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• The note on the fridge was signed by the toaster. It asked, very politely, for less burnt bread and more jam.

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