Trim the Trite Talk!

Business speech, but also bureaucratic jargon, and certainly the everyday talk of ordinary people, is contaminated by cliches. Learn how to avoid, overused, effectively dead, and usually uninteresting language in your conversations.

Good evidence for the robotic nature of humans is the stale, unthinking language that comes out of people's mouths.

Now, at the end of the day, you may conclude I am barking up the wrong tree, that this matter is not the AWESOME! one you wish me to investigate, but - instead - is behind the curve. Having said that, and with all due respect, I will nonetheless press on to try to get my arms around it.

(Now, how did that paragraph seem? Predictable?)

Business speech, but also bureaucratic jargon, and certainly the everyday talk of ordinary people, is contaminated by clichés and bereft of interesting language.

In contemporary business-speak we find a variety of jargon terms, once fresh and lively, now as dead as hearing the awful and unimaginative "Your call is very important to us" during an automated message when we are trying to reach a live human being. "Very important"? Oh, really?

Additional examples:

bottom line (used as a synonym for any conclusion)
on the ground (meaning "close to the action")
on our radar screen (to be aware of something)

Acronyms:

In an attempt to be both cute and "in," some folks like especially To talk in these words made up of initial letters, as in:

A2O (Apples to Oranges, suggesting a comparison is inappropriate.)
MEGO (My Eyes Glazed Over) A sign of complete boredom
WIIFM (What's In It For Me?) "There's no WIIFM factor in your pitch."
FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt). A marketing ploy to discourage clients from considering a rival product.
NVQ (Not Very Qualified). A pejorative way to describe a co-worker.

Techies are especially vulnerable to over-using quick acronyms but, of course, they are not alone in this abuse.

Big problems with acronyms and trite buzzwords

Some people don't understand what you're saying but don't ask because they don't want to appear stupid. And you can imagine how a person's productivity is reduced when they are in a state of confusion in their business or profession.

They believe they "should" know what is being said to them, but they don't. So they pretend to know and muddle through in confusion.

The Week magazine (Nov. 17, 2006, p. 6) reported that "a survey of office workers reported that the use of management jargon by bosses lowers employee morale. Workers said they were particularly depressed by the terms ‘getting one's ducks in a row' and ‘thinking outside the box.'

Many ordinary folks use trite language

Trite means overused, effectively dead, usually uninteresting. Some everyday examples you've heard too often:

in our world today; as a matter of fact; playing with fire; rotten to the core; water under the bridge; better late than never; when all is said and done; to be honest with you; best of both worlds; in a nutshell; without further ado; beat around the bush; at the drop of a hat; beyond the shadow of a doubt.

Because our language habits are generally out of awareness, it's difficult to cull out these trite expressions. We don't notice them easily.

However, if you "buddy up" with a friend who also agrees to eliminating such cliches, you can play a game and monitor each other by pointing them out. With awareness can come change.

Alternatively, reading the rich language of literature and even listening to books on tape can provide you with a stock of fresh language.

With a renewed creative sense of language possibilities, you can begin to substitute old "dead as a doornail" phrases with fresh ones. And you'll be all the more interesting and influential for having done so.

Said economist John Maynard Keynes, "Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assault of thoughts on the unthinking."

Finally, this advice: If it's a turn of phrase you've heard repeatedly, don't repeat it. Instead, it's better to use plain language.

Loren Ekroth © 2006, All rights reserved

Loren Ekroth, Ph.D. is a specialist in human communication and a national expert on conversation for business and social life. His articles and programs strengthen critical communication skills for business and professional people. Contact Loren at Loren@conversation-matters.com. Check out a wealth of valuable resources and articles at http://www.conversation-matters.com.

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