Reuters is reporting on Words to Avoid for Wordsmiths in 2007. Anyone writing, blogging, or marketing online in text or audio or just posting on a forum online is a wordsmith of sorts, so THIS MEANS YOU!
The offending phrases vary by age and genre, but here are some samples you may care to “avoid like the plague” in 2008 (see what I mean?).
“post-9/11″
“perfect storm”
“surge”
“webinar”
“give back”
“back in the day”
Using “decimate” to mean “destroy” or “annihilate”
My favorite word to hate is “impactful”. It doesn’t seem to have been “impactful” enough, however annoying to me, to make the list.
And “wordsmith” is a cliche too these writers said. They’re much to elegant, they thought, to be equated with a man sweating near a forge pounding shape and utility into hot metal. But that’s how writing seems to me sometimes. I thought it was a compliment.
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