Comments on: Significant, substantial, meaningful: words to avoid http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid Writing, marketing and technology Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:56:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Writing for the small screen « Web Hosting Blog | Heart Internet Official Blog http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid/comment-page-1#comment-682124 Writing for the small screen « Web Hosting Blog | Heart Internet Official Blog Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:00:08 +0000 http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid#comment-682124 [...] BS detectors. So, if you want to be trusted, don’t sound like an advert. Be specific. Don’t use big-up adjectives. Avoid hype. Don’t state the [...] [...] BS detectors. So, if you want to be trusted, don’t sound like an advert. Be specific. Don’t use big-up adjectives. Avoid hype. Don’t state the [...]

]]> By: Editing, rewriting and increasing readability: 10 ways to slim obese copy - Bad Language http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid/comment-page-1#comment-656740 Editing, rewriting and increasing readability: 10 ways to slim obese copy - Bad Language Thu, 15 Apr 2010 07:02:39 +0000 http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid#comment-656740 [...] word they read so using hyped-up words has the opposite result to the one you wanted. D’oh! See Words to avoid for more. They just sit around watching TV and eating your food like unwanted house guests. They [...] [...] word they read so using hyped-up words has the opposite result to the one you wanted. D’oh! See Words to avoid for more. They just sit around watching TV and eating your food like unwanted house guests. They [...]

]]> By: Laura K. Cowan http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid/comment-page-1#comment-654810 Laura K. Cowan Sun, 21 Mar 2010 22:42:55 +0000 http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid#comment-654810 Agreed. I remember having a "discussion" with the PR rep for an auto manufacturer that had rounded up the horsepower numbers on their spec sheet in order to get a nice round number for marketing purposes. We had a policy to check the horsepower figures and print them exactly as they were. You can imagine their displeasure when we didn't swallow the press release whole and print the pretty number they wanted us to. :) .-= Laura K. Cowan´s last blog ..<a href="http://a2editor.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/how-to-write-a-good-plot/" rel="nofollow">How To Write a Good Plot</a> =-. Agreed. I remember having a “discussion” with the PR rep for an auto manufacturer that had rounded up the horsepower numbers on their spec sheet in order to get a nice round number for marketing purposes. We had a policy to check the horsepower figures and print them exactly as they were. You can imagine their displeasure when we didn’t swallow the press release whole and print the pretty number they wanted us to. :)
.-= Laura K. Cowan´s last blog ..How To Write a Good Plot =-.

]]> By: Matthew Stibbe http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid/comment-page-1#comment-654801 Matthew Stibbe Sun, 21 Mar 2010 19:51:30 +0000 http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid#comment-654801 Hi Laura, I agree about the rise of 'amateur journalism' but I think it's more a case of 'amateur writing'. Of course PR and marketing copy is going to be biased but the trick is to make it read as if it is not. The more hype that gets through, the less credible the copy appears. This is especially true because, of course, journalists who receive press releases are very cynical and very sophisticated consumers of written content. More than the general public, they are wary of being sold a pup in writing. Hi Laura, I agree about the rise of ‘amateur journalism’ but I think it’s more a case of ‘amateur writing’. Of course PR and marketing copy is going to be biased but the trick is to make it read as if it is not. The more hype that gets through, the less credible the copy appears. This is especially true because, of course, journalists who receive press releases are very cynical and very sophisticated consumers of written content. More than the general public, they are wary of being sold a pup in writing.

]]> By: Laura K. Cowan http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid/comment-page-1#comment-654800 Laura K. Cowan Sun, 21 Mar 2010 19:32:20 +0000 http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid#comment-654800 Thanks for this post. I can also see this issue spreading to the media as a whole (more so than it already has) as news goes online because 1) in online media space isn't at such a premium. I had a managing editor who didn't "believe in adjectives" because those were the least essential words in an article and the first to get the ax when the word count went too high. Hype often comes in the form of adjectives. 2) with the rise of amateur journalism there is less practice of the traditional standard to try to sound objective. Hype is intrinsically biased. .-= Laura K. Cowan´s last blog ..<a href="http://a2editor.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/how-to-write-a-good-plot/" rel="nofollow">How To Write a Good Plot</a> =-. Thanks for this post. I can also see this issue spreading to the media as a whole (more so than it already has) as news goes online because
1) in online media space isn’t at such a premium. I had a managing editor who didn’t “believe in adjectives” because those were the least essential words in an article and the first to get the ax when the word count went too high. Hype often comes in the form of adjectives.
2) with the rise of amateur journalism there is less practice of the traditional standard to try to sound objective. Hype is intrinsically biased.
.-= Laura K. Cowan´s last blog ..How To Write a Good Plot =-.

]]> By: Matthew Stibbe http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid/comment-page-1#comment-654174 Matthew Stibbe Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:20:10 +0000 http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid#comment-654174 Ah, true! But the graph is Tim Phillips's not mine. :) Which reminds me of the little ditty some wit composed about Charles II: "Here lies our sovereign lord the kind, whose word no man relies on. He never said foolish thing or ever did a wise one." To which Charles replied: "It's true but my words are my own whereas my deeds are my government's." Ah, true! But the graph is Tim Phillips’s not mine. :)

Which reminds me of the little ditty some wit composed about Charles II:

“Here lies our sovereign lord the kind, whose word no man relies on. He never said foolish thing or ever did a wise one.”

To which Charles replied: “It’s true but my words are my own whereas my deeds are my government’s.”

]]> By: Tristram Brelstaff http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid/comment-page-1#comment-654170 Tristram Brelstaff Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:32:13 +0000 http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid#comment-654170 The graph you show has been "hyped" a little by having its y-axis start at 0.05 rather than 0.00. .-= Tristram Brelstaff´s last blog ..<a href="http://tristram.squarespace.com/home/2010/3/11/monads-as-overloadable-semicolons.html" rel="nofollow">Monads as Overloadable Semicolons</a> =-. The graph you show has been “hyped” a little by having its y-axis start at 0.05 rather than 0.00.
.-= Tristram Brelstaff´s last blog ..Monads as Overloadable Semicolons =-.

]]> By: Matthew Stibbe http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid/comment-page-1#comment-654168 Matthew Stibbe Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:13:07 +0000 http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid#comment-654168 Thanks for showing that BS or, more technically, imprecision in writing has bigger consequences. Matthew Thanks for showing that BS or, more technically, imprecision in writing has bigger consequences. Matthew

]]> By: Gary McMahon http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid/comment-page-1#comment-654153 Gary McMahon Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:23:58 +0000 http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid#comment-654153 Love this. In Australia our primary environmental legislation refers to "significant impact". Note that significant isn't defined and hence open to interpretation. Maybe our members of parliament (and their staff!) that draft these meaningless should read this blog. I can't begin to explain the difficulty this has caused since 1999 when the law was passed! I know that wording legislation is difficult, but how about using "real" words that mean something or at least define what is meant by a "throw away" term. Cheers Love this. In Australia our primary environmental legislation refers to “significant impact”. Note that significant isn’t defined and hence open to interpretation. Maybe our members of parliament (and their staff!) that draft these meaningless should read this blog.
I can’t begin to explain the difficulty this has caused since 1999 when the law was passed!
I know that wording legislation is difficult, but how about using “real” words that mean something or at least define what is meant by a “throw away” term.
Cheers

]]> By: Matthew Stibbe http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid/comment-page-1#comment-654131 Matthew Stibbe Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:27:51 +0000 http://www.badlanguage.net/significant-substantial-meaningful-and-unique-words-to-avoid#comment-654131 I don't know why there has been a big rise. I hypothesise that PRs are coming under more and more pressure as the effectiveness of traditional PR methods declines. The more attention people put on blogs, twitter, websites and multiple news outlets, the less chance they have to operate as a valve for information. Possibly this makes them more desparate and, hence, more hype words. Just a theory though. I don’t know why there has been a big rise. I hypothesise that PRs are coming under more and more pressure as the effectiveness of traditional PR methods declines. The more attention people put on blogs, twitter, websites and multiple news outlets, the less chance they have to operate as a valve for information. Possibly this makes them more desparate and, hence, more hype words. Just a theory though.

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