Jargon is one of those things that take away clarity of your writing.
You often see them in press release, brochure, and marketing materials. They are big words and phrases that have very little meaning.
Some examples:
- Best in class standard
- Value added services
- Customer focused solution
- Outcome based strategy
They're what I call fluffy words. They sound important but actually they're just a layer of abstraction that have very little to show.
There's no detail in it. You read past these phrases without knowing what it actually means.
And so we should strike them out from our writing.
There's also a selection of words we often use that do have meanings but they're often a jazzed up version of something simpler.
Words like finalize. "We should finalize this by Wednesday". Which can be written simpler with finish, "We should finish this by Wednesday".
When we use jazzed up words they sound tacky, so it's best that we also avoid them in our writing.
Other jazzed up words:
Implement a strategy > Carry out a strategy
Conceptualize > Imagine
Downsizing > Laying off
Bleeding edge > Latest
The machine is operational > The machine is working
Utilize > Use
Commence > Start
Output > Result
Parameters > Limits
Strategize > plan
Core competency > Strengths
Deliverables > Results
Incentivize > Motivate
Transformation > Change