A recent post in the New York Times “After Deadline” blog – an online section devoted to examining questions of grammar, usage and style – examined the words writers love to overuse. Since we’re increasingly called upon to create more written content on behalf of our clients, we find this blog helpful to improve our writing. Some of the words writer Philip Corbett highlighted in his post include the following:
Icon/Iconic: Times editors have waged a long battle against the trite overuse of these terms. Ask yourself whether a person or thing is truly worthy of these descriptions before using them.
Arguably: A sneaky way to say something without having to take full responsibility for saying it.
Famously: If it’s so famous, do we have to say so?
[Blank]gate: Troopergate was the latest. This is an overdone play on the name of a well-known historic event.
Toxic: As in “toxic assets.” This has become ubiquitous as the standard term to describe the troubled investments at the heart of the fiscal crisis. Avoid it if you can.
I found this post to be particularly interesting because as a writer and PR professional, we often struggle with developing content that is straight-forward, easy-to-read and when possible, devoid of marketing language.
From a PR perspective, there are thousands of overused words and phrases I’m sure journalists would like to see banned from press and marketing materials. A few that come to mind include:
Revolutionize
Leverage
Cost-effective
Unveiled
Best-of-breed
Turnkey
Robust
Flexible
Next generation
Mission critical
I admit that in my 10 years in PR I’ve used all of these words hundreds of times. But in the interest of continuous improvement, it may be time to chuck these old phrases and get back to simplify our writing.
What other words or phrases do you think should be banned from PR and marketing materials? We’d love to hear your opinion. Leave us a comment!