In a recent post, web PR and marketing guru, David Meermon Scott complained about the use of gobbledygook,which distances organizations from their customers, and urged his readers to start speaking in plain language. The biggest perpetrators of goobledygook are the people who should know better: professional communicators. We’re the ones who write the press releases Meermon Scott was talking about.
You know the ones with language like mission critical services, best of breed talent, world class, cutting edge, innovative, breakthrough, innovative solutions delivered by (this is my favorite) XX Company, the leading providerof …
When we use words like this, we remain stuck in a “broadcasting model” of communications. The interaction is driven by the need of the organization to tell its audiences what it wants them to know rather than focusing on the receiver of the information and what might be most useful to him or her.
As I read his blog, it made me wonder why we keep using this language that doesn’t really say anything. My guess is that we do it because:
- we don’t really know what we are trying to say,
- what we have to say isn’t all that compelling so we’re trying to make it sound better,
- we don’t understand the subject about which we are communicating, or
- our clients and bosses like these words.
As communicators, we do have the ability to write clearly and we have the persuasive skills to steer our clients towards clear expression. Let’s declare war on jargon and gobbledygook. Let’s ban these words from our press releases, brochures and web sites. Let’s do more showing than telling. We’ll all be better for it.
What do you think? Can we defeat jargon?
