Avoid jargon & Don't hedge

Avoid jargon

Jargon is vocabulary that is specific to an industry or group of people. Because specialized language and technical terms can be confusing, it’s best to avoid them, even for the savviest of audiences.

Try this as a guideline: Use jargon only if you are completely confident that nearly every one of your readers – say, nine out of ten – will understand it.

In addition, certain words and phrases come in and out of fashion. Because not everyone will understand them, and they might mean different things to different people, try to avoid them. Faddish words and phrases include:

• actionable items - bottom line (as noun or verb)
• cutting edge - deliverables
• dialogue (as a verb) - hands on
• interface (as a verb) - proactive
• repurpose - skill set

Don’t hedge

Don’t use wishy-washy language because you don’t know exactly what you want to say or because you fear people will disagree with you.

• The following words and phrases are red flags that you are hedging:
• practically - Pretty
• probably - Rather
• seemingly - Somewhat
• very - Virtually
• as I recall - as I understand it
• for all intents and purposes - I imagine
• I would guess that - in some cases
• is considered to be - it is my observation that
• it is my opinion that - for the most part

may or may not be my best guess is that to the best of my recollection under the circumstances

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