My New Year’s Resolution: Death to ‘Linguistic Sludge’!
Language is integral to what we do. We ask questions, listen to answers, interpret text. And even if we never speak to anyone or read anything, we will always need to communicate what we have discovered in some sort of report.
We need to be clear, succinct and evocative. To make the case, tell the story, to transport our clients to someone else’s world.
Yet so much of the language used in the world of marketing and research seems almost intent on obfuscation. It seems to me that in our desire to sound smart or profound we sacrifice simplicity and clarity. Or we get complacent and jump to our ‘go to’ set of words, and our language becomes formulaic, lacking in nuance.
We use buzzwords and jargon; we are unnecessarily formal and wordy (my own particular weakness!).
We can end up a long way from the simple human truths that effective marketing is built from. Our audiences end up having to wade through ‘linguistic sludge’ to try and make sense of what we’re saying.
So, for me, in 2025 I resolve to avoid all jargon, all buzzwords, select my words very carefully, and try my best to keep it short.
Happy 2025!