Expressions that Should Be Avoided in Your Writing

Brochures, product descriptions, proposals ─ and almost any other form of customer-directed documents ─ are overflowing with marketing terms that have lost their significance or never should have been used in the first place. I have provided a few of them here – that I particularly dislike – with some accompanying comments.
The point to keep in mind is that you should always adhere to simple and direct language. The majority of your readers are, very likely, non-native English speakers. Do not make it more difficult than it already is for them. Do not use hackneyed, potentially misleading, or offensive language.

Best-of-Breed. This expression is used for a dog that has been judged as the best representative specimen of its breed. How is that for a start in positioning your product? Do you really enjoy being associated with canines? The techie version of the term ─ supposedly indicating the top software or hardware in its class ─ has been overused to the point where it has lost all significance. It should be given back to the dogs. Replace it with “significant”, “dominant”, “major”.

Device-Agnostic. The electronic dictionary, Babylon, provides the following definitions for agnostic: “One who is unsure whether or not God exists; person who refuses to declare belief in the existence or nonexistence of God; skeptic, person who is doubting or suspicious about something”. About 10 years ago, some bright soul came with the expression “device agnostic” in the sense of “not being dedicated to a single hardware platform, but flexible enough to work with any device”. I think that the following line – which I copied from a brochure – is sufficient to defer anyone from using it: “An enhanced browser-based, device-agnostic, email experience via web and WAP interfaces.” My real opposition to the use of such language is the high degree of likelihood that it will be misunderstood. Europeans are often not sufficiently familiar with English jargon to appreciate the difference between the dictionary definition and this crude adaptation.

Leading. Too many brochures and product descriptions claim that the company is the leading (put your company's specialty here) in the field. It sounds silly and puts you company in a negative light.

Leveraging our Assets. A company that does not "leverage its assets", goes broke.

Mission Critical. Your product may save the customer time, reduce errors, solve problems or increase profits, but unless lives are at stake, don't expect somebody to believe it. What's wrong with the word "essential"?

Robust. This is a term that belongs to the realm of coffee. Calling a product robust tells the customer nothing at all. List the product’s benefits. It's a more effective selling tool.

Strategic Alliances: Have you ever seen a business alliance that isn’t strategic? If you have established working arrangements with partner companies you can list the advantages of such cooperation without exaggerating too much.

Cutting Edge, Leading Edge, Best in Class. These are dumb terms which have totally lost their significance due to overuse. Stop maligning the English language. How about foremost, on the forefront of technology, beneficial, etc.

Next Generation. So you are finally admitting that the next software release will actually do what you have promised for the past two years. It that the idea?

Breakthrough. You have made a bit of progress in resolving a major problem. Let’s not get carried away with a word that sounds, at best, trite.

User Friendly. This term provides no information relevant to the functioning of your UI and makes it sound as if you are plugging a poor-quality product. Use simple, direct and relevant terminology: easy-to-use, easily-managed, comprehensive control.

Killer Application. Wikipedia states that a “killer app” is an application so compelling that someone will buy the hardware or software components necessary to run it. I suppose that this limited interpretation is valid but the expression has gotten totally out of hand. Let the competition make such ridiculous claims.

The Bottom Line – Craft your text with care. If in doubt about a term, don’t use it. If you are really stuck, contact me.