Leveraging the synergies: death to PRspeak

'Granular' and 'drill-down' -  especially when applied to research..."if you want to get really granular results then we can drill-down into these areas" - eeurgh!

I've used a few of the words and phrases on your list, although only ever in a 'business' context. I do know some people who speak like that all the time, which is a bit worrying.

The problem is that many of these phrases refer to concepts that don't have an obvious 'better' word. A more useful list would be a list of the replacements for the words above, although I think it would be a lot harder to compile. There has, over the last few years, been a definite reaction against the use of 'business-speak' amongst software developers. 

The rise of major open source software projects has led to a situation where big pieces of software are being marketed, but not by marketing departments; often, other software developers (or 'evangelists') are put in charge of promoting the software they wrote. This has resulted in a slew of websites which advertise software in what appears to be the persona of a 14-year-old. What might have been described as an "enterprise-class best-of-breed search solution" would now be a "super-awesome search library", or something along those lines (if I'm exaggerating, it's not by much).

The desire to put across 'warmth' and 'humanity' (think Innocent Smoothies here) is just as off-putting as the faux-intelligence of management-speak.

I've yet to see anyone come up with a clear set of instructions for how to communicate with clarity to a wide audience, whilst also communicating some extra "between the lines" statements about the values and principles of the speaker/author. Of course, it remains possible that this is just really difficult, and that's why most people do so badly at it.

oh yes you missed a few! some of my pet hates include...

world-class

interface (not as a technical word, but in having a conversation)

Bandwidth (again not in tech speak, but instead to refer to capacity or time)

Out of the box (on every TV programme about business)

close the loop

Unique - when clearly not

Learnings

and then there are the really useless hyperbole found in every press release i see about social media.In particular, 'fun' and 'exciting' for a new product or launch.

I am a PR and I have to defend our profession and say that some of us try not to use wasteful words!

Kate

www.immediatefuture.co.uk

Thanks for reaching out to us and putting your arms around the use/misuse/appropriation/misappropriation of language. I shall definitely take the learnings provided so robustly by you when I next put together a blue sky presentation that outlines the paradigm shift we are all currently experiencing in our business through the use of innovative social media apps such as Twitter. I know at my place of work this is receiving little bandwidth...oh my god, not only is there an elephant in the room, it's being followed by a black swan...aaaargh! :) 

I have a couple of my pet hates to add to the list, although most of my bug bears have been covered.   I do so hate 'event' as in weather event.  We've been having lots of snow events on the Beeb today.  Why?  What's so wrong with plain old snow all of a sudden?

Heads up - yuk.

Across the piece.  I really don't understand that one.  It seems to be used by a lot of HR people and seems to be a catch all or plug when they can't think of the correct word.

And I came across a beauty today - worklessness.  Is unemployement really such a shameful word it has to be replaced by one that's actually rather difficult to say?

PLEASE will you share the style guide with us when it's finished?

'PR speak' to me is a reflection of an dynamic, evolving culture. It makes writing more concise, up-to-date, and interesting. The strongest 'PR Speaks' will endure and the weakest will fade away, often after just a few years. Bring 'em on. I'm all for it.

Chris, Is the style guide that you produced available publicly? I've been looking for a good one to highlight to colleague why writing (even for internal documentation) is: a skill; something to do well or not at all; and something we (myself included) need to get better at!

(BTW, so many great comments on this post - And The Headlines That Start With Capital Letters one really annoys me when retweeting!)

Thanks for the wake-up call (another horror phrase).
I'm saddened to think that the development sector happily uses such language, myself included.
Reading your list felt like an extract from the many donor reports I've seen over the past year.

I see lots of words here that people don't like (and some are really quite horrific) but much fewer suggestions as to what to use in their place.

Some are obvious - lessons learnt for learnings, for example - but I think others gain popularity because they say something in a succinct and widely understood way, that's difficult to say any other way.

I came to this conversation from this blog: http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/7616-what-are-the-lowest-hanging-fruit-opportunities-for-seo where comments were made about 'low hanging fruit'.

What should be used instead? 'Easy pickings'? 'Stuff that's really easy to do and won't take much effort'?

The first is almost the same, the second doesn't exactly trip off the tongue.

If you look back over the history of the English language, there are many words that have been tried but fallen by the wayside. Likewise, there are many that were disliked when first introduced, but feel quite normal now. This is how our language grows, and why it has been, and continues to be, such an international success.

Chris - we are all waiting for the publication of your report!

It's the sort of thread that you just cannot retort with a "let's park this for a while".

Made up words coined by software providers in a bid to sound impressive need to make this list too. A classic example is searchandising. Where's that bucket...?

Someone just offered to 'onboard' me onto a project.
Made me want to revisit this excellent post..!

@mark Sorry you had to go through that experience. I can see this thread being updated for years to come with new and hideous variations..!!!

I think your right , I m sure in the old days I may have used some shockers but I fear that a lot of tech/PR jargon stems from our friends from over the pond. Think we need to come up with some good British Jargon that will confuse them.

And sometimes jargon can be fun. I have a copy of Wired magazine's JargonWatch handbook, published in 1997. Some of the terminology may have dated, but some of it is still highly relevant. Perhaps some jargon is worth reintroducing? eg

Frankenedit = a gruesome job of editing a writer's work by an editor in a hurry. The frankenedited piece is usually returned with a note asking the writer to suture it all back together and to breath life into it (by the next morning)

Rasterbator = a Photoshop Abuser. See also Bit Diddling and Cornea Gumbo

LRF Support = an official sounding fictitious computer feature that can be used to test the knowledge of a sales droid or IT marketing know-it-all. LRF stands for "little rubber feet". "Does this come with LRF support?" LBL technology can also be used (Little Blinking Lights).

You get the idea.

I haven't read all the posts - so forgive me if someone has already mentioned this phrase.

For me it's got to be 'reach out' - 'lets reach out to our colleagues in marketing' – but what does it mean?

Will we start stretching across our desks in an attempt to 'reach out'? What's wrong with a good old fashioned 'ask' surely that’s what this useless piece of business jargon means.

Why have two words when one has served us well and doesn't need any explaining!

Ugh! I truly want to barf. I'm not in PR but Healthcare (Staff RN) at a big time Cleveland Hospital. Our local paper interviewed a new president (an RN) of a huge department. She goes on to say we "we look for opportunities whenever posiible to leverage synergies".I googled this site to better understand the babble-thank you. I will keep my bedside job,work hard to mend the sick and continue to speak in a professional manner without added value effort to to impress.

Enable - as in "this turnkey solution will enable you to reach out to your peers" for pick up your phone and ask a colleague.

Why call this PR-speak? I work in PR and I am the person in our company who considers it a professional crusade to remove the jargon from my colleagues' writing before it goes to the public. I know that my PR colleagues in other organisations consider this part of their role too. So, unless you actually understand the role of PR, please don't disparage it.

@Setface I've worked in PR for 26 years. I've never yet met a PR pro who openly admits to liking (or writing) jargon. However, a cursory look at press releases on PR Newswire, Realwire, Sourcewire, etc will show you that jargon is alive and well - nay, thriving. Ask any journalist whether they think jargon is on the wane - I think I know the answer.

Jargon was derided when I started out in PR 26 years ago - in fact, jargon has probably being criticised by the Mesopotamians in 3000 BC. The reasons it happened then and still happens now are probably the same eg the PR may well counsel against the use of jargon, but ultimately they are over ruled by others eg the client, the internal decision makers, etc.

Given this is Orwell month at the BBC, why not reread his essay on Politics and the English language - as relevant to commercial writing as politics today:

https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm

As Orwell says: "The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink."

Or this: "Orthodoxy, of whatever color, seems to demand a lifeless, imitative style."

We get jargon because it requires less thought and effort than actually having a clear of idea of what you want to say and using the simplest form of words to express that (a cynic might argue that at root, all PR and commercial content has one basic message - buy me). Or you know what the truth is - and resort to jargon and big Latin constructions in order to make what you have to say seem more important and valuable than you know it really is.

Also, although every marketeer on the planet will talk about differentiation, businesses generally don't like risk - hence why businesses often end up talking like everyone else.

I sadly predict that EConsultancy will still be able to publish a similar post to this in 3 years time.

@Chris Lake: try working in PR sometime