- Contest Factory
- July 29, 2015
Copy: Don’t Let Your Land in the Digital Junkyard
We are drowning in a sea of clichéd metaphors, expressions, and nonsense words that obfuscate our simpler message. Examine that opening sentence again. “Drowning in a sea” is a tired metaphor. And why did I choose to use “obfuscate” when I could have used “hide” instead? If you want your copy read, it matters.
A business presentation often acts as a clump of jargon speakers use to sound intelligent and current. But these gobs are also due in part to lazy copy writing, and in particular, poor copy editing.
There are really four kinds of jargon that can appear in your on-slide content, or within the content of your talk. This list was pulled from a great article on PR Daily:
“Nouns as verbs: ideate, incentivize, leverage, etc.”
Verbs as nouns: actionable, takeaway, deliverable, etc.
Work that’s not done in an office: drill down, circle back, loop me in, etc.
Nonsense: boil the ocean, drink from a fire hose, build the plane while flying it, etc.”
If you’re not ready to demolish copy jargon in your presentation, consider that all of these clichéd expressions and substitutions may actually be making you appear unintelligent, or at least, like you’re trying too hard. Consider this Washington Post examination on jargon, with a special focus on the word “leverage.”
Full Story at: http://bit.ly/1JvsBoQ
Credit: Slide Share – By
