discussion 5

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forth). Using this kind of jargon excessively, even when your audience will understand it, can flatten your writing and diminish its impact. Relying too much on jargon can make you sound sloppy, as if you’re not willing to do the work to express what you mean accurately.

How many of the phrases below do you see in a typical workweek?

Actionable Aligning At the end of the day Bandwidth Best practice Blue-sky thinking Boiling the ocean Boots on the ground Deep dive Delta (instead of “change”) Disruptive Game changer Going forward Hard-baked solution Impactful Iterate Leading-edge Leverage Low-hanging fruit Moving the ball forward No-regrets move Popping the bubble Quick win Reaching out Reality check Strategic Synergy Taking the pulse Thought shower Tools Touching base 2.0 Upskill Value add Warning shot

I’m sure you could add to the list. Such phrases are often metaphors, as you can see, and taken in bulk they’re just comical. Things really get interesting when writers begin to mix these metaphors; the result is often pure nonsense:

Have you noticed that the farther you move toward fulfilling your potential, the higher the needle moves forward?

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