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Falling Into The “Pop Language” Trap

By Michael Stelzner

I recently read some very cutting edge, next generation ideas.

They were the kind of breakthrough thoughts that world-class companies could only hope for!

Puffer FishWAIT. Stop the tape.

What’s wrong with those opening sentences? Well…

They are the kind of overused jargon—or Gobbledygook—that make their way into our marketing language FAR too frequently.

My blogging friend David Meerman Scott has gone and done something I am excited about.

He actually had Factiva (one of my clients for full disclosure) analyze 50,000 articles to find the overused hype and puffery words that make many of us writers roll our eyes back.

Here is a summary of the most common overused terms:

  • Next generation
  • Flexible
  • Robust
  • World class
  • Scalable
  • Easy to use

Be sure to check out his post on this topic.

Now I should say, I have used some of those terms. It’s kinda hard to escape them.

What are your thoughts on this topic? How can we avoid such language? Is there a cost to using OR not using such terms.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, October 12th, 2006 at 2:22 pm and is filed under Writing White Papers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

  • Michael Scully
    Get a load of this (heehee):

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jxaY14ddrY
  • I think it's a classic example of MBA's that don't want their readers to think that their content is the writing equivilence of wearing "white socks" if they don't use one or more of these overhyped terms.

    In graduate school, the writers that filled up their blue books during an exam with the most BS were the ones who were rewarded with an A. The groupthink here is that by inserting these trendy business terms into their white papers, they can appear fashionably "hip" to their readers as they were to their professors in their business ethics class.
  • I love the livey discussion! Thanks and keep it coming.

    The real challenge is how we get our clients to stop using these words???
  • I've written for high tech companies for 25 years ... and I am pretty comfortable assuming an IT professional knows what I mean by scalable.

    Having said that, I never use the word by itself ... I always add, "which means it can easily grow as you grow, accommodating as many as 10,000 users or more" ... or something like that.
  • I agree with David. Because I'm a contributing editor at MarketingSherpa, I, too, get press releases. When I wrote that press release on my blog announcing David's manifesto, I simply plugged in the gobbleygok words I found in the releases I have sitting in my inbox.

    I found the exercise humorous and a bit frightening.

    Most of the time, I don't understand what press releases are telling me. I often have to read them two or three times.

    I also agree with David about explaining what jargon means. I think "scalable" is a lovely word; its meaning is precise. But not everyone knows what it means, and like Mike says, it's become overused. Because complex sales cycles often involve multiple influencers, some of whom aren't "techies," it pays to write things in plain English and to explain what jargon words mean.
  • Kurt Andersen
    Your blog entry touches on a subject that is one of my pet peeves - ostensibly professional writers using meaningless terms simply because they're fashionable. It's a form of laziness.
    I would like to add the word "proactive" to the list because not only is it overused, it's misused. It does not mean preemptive or anticipatory. It means practical.

    Some people will insist that these terms are what clients want or expect, but if you convey a message effectively, clients usually won't notice that these terms are not included in the copy.
  • Bob and Mike - I receive about 100 press releases a day because one of the many hats I wear is as contributing editor at EContent Magazine. Scalable is just as Mike describes -- overused. It sometimes seems like people just use words that the analysts Gartner and Forrester uses to seem important.

    Bottom line to me is -- write for your buyers. If scalability is important for your buyers, then put it in, but describe what you mean by scalable, don't just use the word and leave it hanging there. If scalability is not important for your buyers, don't use the word, even if all your competitors and the analysts do.
  • Nettie and Bob;

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Nettie - Great resource on that Dimwit link you provided!

    Bob, having worked nearly exclusively with high-tech companies. I have to tell you that the use of the word "scalable" has itself scaled! It no longer means what I once did. I cannot tell you how many times I have been on calls with execs that mentioned scalability was a feature of their product and then when asked to provide an example, they talked about something that was not scalable. It has turned into a word of many meanings. It has gone into the world of overused jargon. Having said all of that, I think it is still a valid word. But I prefer not to use the word by itself.

    Mike
  • "Scalable" is not puffery; it has a precise meaning not communicated as concisely as any other term, and it is factual. "World-class" is total puffery; it's a fancy way of saying your product is the best. And "the best" says almost nothing. It's a purely subjective, self-serving opinion from the least objective source on the planet -- the product manufacturer.
  • Studying overused words in releases and in marketing content, is not a new phenomenon, although I would agree the results to this one are interesting.

    As a journalist, I would agree with the "leaders", "leading company" and "market leader" being completely overused and have been for years.

    As a writer I find tapping the "The Dimwit's Dictionary: 5,000 Overused Words and Phrases and Alternatives to Them" by Robert Hartwell Fiske is a great book for checking out overused phrases - http://www.amazon.com/Dimwits-Dictionary-Overused-Phrases-Alternatives/dp/0966517679 .

    Another site that is fun and that I listed as a resource in a WhitePaperSource.com newsletter is - http://www.buzzwhack.com/ . It's a great site for finding how many commonly used "buzzwords" we're all using and giving them a good whack! It's also sponsoring a contest right now for its latest Buzzword dictionary giveaway for whomever submits lists of commonly used buzzwords.
  • Dianna - Good stuff! It is often hard to get exec's past specific terms. I like to draw the outer boundaries of an idea--a silhouette if you will with words. What is left is usually a clear image that says "innovative" without using those words. – Mike
  • Michael,

    When customers want to use words like "innovative," I ask, "What do you mean by that?" Lots of companies are indeed "innovative," but how or why are you innovative and why is this important to your customer? I often find my copywriting "meat" in their answers.

    I am finding, however, that the phrase "leading company" or "market leader" is really starting to grate on me. I see it everywhere!
  • Hi David;

    What really interests me is WHY people gravitate to these words.

    It seems the underlying variable is the desire to be different.

    Kinda goes back to an issue I discuss often --- how do you stand out in a world of noise?

    ANSWER: Be relevant.

    Thanks for stopping by.

    Mike
  • Thanks for the addition to the conversation about gobbledygook, Michael. I see these words pop up a lot in white papers too, but it was so much easier to analyze press releases.

    I've used these terms too sometime, although since I started this analysis project, they have really jumped out at me. I think what's really important is what the people who are reading your work think. Do people really want to "improve business process"? REALLY? Well OK then, if that's what buyers really say, then I say go for it - use the phrase. But if not, people won't think that the writing is for them and they will, at best, not read the writing and worse, not do business with your company.
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