Client communications: words you should never use

Words to Avoid

Words matter. When you’re trying to sell an idea, a service or a product you need to communicate clearly.

You also need to shake off that old-fashioned formality people often think they should use in client communications.

And there are certain words and phrases that you should always avoid. 

Avoid double-speak at all costs

According to one of my favourite word gurus, Herschell Gordon Lewis, doublespeak is

“a technique of trying to make bad news seem good, trying to make a lie seem true, trying to cloud the mind of someone who understood perfectly well what you said before.”

Every industry has its own collection of ‘doublespeak’. Australian author and speechwriter Don Watson included some classics in his book Dictionary of Weasel Words.

Here are some examples:

  • Taxes become “revenue enhancements” or “user fees”.
  • Getting the sack becomes “career alternative enhancement program” (this is what Chrysler Corporation used when they got rid of 5,000 employees) or an “involuntary career event”.
  • An unfortunate sewerage processing plant didn’t have an “accident”, it had an “anomaly” – resulting in “repositioned organic biomass”. I don’t think I need to explain that one.
  • A lie becomes a “terminological inexactitude”, or as we are all groaningly familiar, an “alternative fact”.

To utilise or use: that is the question

And then there’s the word utilise. When should it be used, if at all?

The official version according to my trusty Macquarie Dictionary is: “to put to use; turn to profitable account: for example, to utilise water power for driving.”

When I checked the meaning of use, there were many definitions. And some sounded quite close to the one given for utilise.

For a lengthy discussion of the history of the word utilise I found this great blog from the Throw Grammar from the Train website.

His conclusion: utilise means “repurpose”. It can only mean that, and plain old use can never mean that.

But that doesn’t translate in a lot of cases. Such as: “he utilised a hammer to crack nuts,” and never “he used a hammer”? “They utilised a credit card to jimmy the door”? “She utilised my Sharpie for eyeliner”?

My advice, use your common sense! (i.e. don’t utilise it). Avoid using words to make you (or your company or client) sound important or smart.

If you’re trying to get your message across, take a critical look at your writing. If you see doublespeak creeping in, knock it out now!

For help with crafting your client communications, get in touch