Ditch the Duplicatives

Just when I thought we were eradicating cliches like “space” and “low-hanging fruit” and “it is what it is” from business communication, a new scourge has surfaced – the duplicative. That’s when you add redundant words to a simple phrase to make it sound more important. Stop doing it!

 

I don’t have stats to back this up, but my guess is that the trend started during the last election cycle. Seemingly every pundit on TV was trying to analyze the “tone and tenor” of candidate X’s speech. Technically, the tenor is what you say, and the tone is how you say it. But is it really necessary to throw in both terms when you could simply say the speech was inspiring or rambling or aggressive or nonsensical? Viewers and voters would get the idea. The pundit’s just trying to sound self-important. Same goes for “The Great State of” preceding the state from which a particular politician hails. It’s pompous and unnecessary. If you spend any time traveling the 50 states, you’ll realize many of them are mediocre at best. At least Oklahoma is honest on its license plates: “Oklahoma is OK.”

 

Same goes for “rules and regulations” (aka “rules and regs”). Technically, rules are set by individuals or organizations and apply within a specific context. Regulations are set by governmental bodies and have wider applicability. They’re sometimes legally binding, unlike rules. But most of the time when business leaders, HR people, law enforcement or military people sprinkle “rules and regs” into their prose, it just means “you better do what I say!” They’re using the extra verbiage to sound more official. Don’t do it in your own communication.

 

 “First and foremost” is another one of those duplicatives that grates on me. If it wasn’t the most important, why would you list it first? If safety wasn’t the airline’s “foremost” concern why would they emphasize it at the beginning of the in-flight demo? Just use one or the other when trying to state the importance of something.  

 

“Out and about” is another one that’s been overused since the COVID restrictions were removed. “The revelers will be out and about after the concert ends.” Or “the trick-or-treaters will be out and about tonight since the weather’s so nice.” Can they be out without being about? I don’t think so. Just say: “they’ll be out” or “they’ll be celebrating.”

“We’re still in the early innings” started creeping up in corporate-speak and political-speak during the Major League Baseball playoffs. Just say “early on” or better yet, “initially.” When you’re long-winded like that, no one is going to wait around for you to tell us about the 7th inning stretch or the bottom of the ninth. You’ve already lost them.

Finally, when it comes to summarizing, “at the end of the day” is just as pompous as saying “when it’s all said and done.” Why not just say “ultimately“? I’ll take one word over six any day of the week.

As we approach the end of this post, you might be bracing for “last but not least” a passive aggressive way of implying that someone or something is still significant despite being mentioned at the end. “Last but not least, I’d like to thank our sales team. Without their efforts, we never would have achieved a record year.” You’re doing the sales team a favor by mentioning them at the end of your communication. It’s leaving a lasting impression on the audience. You don’t need to call excessive attention to “last but not least.” Just say “finally.” It’s the folks mentioned second or third from the end who ought to feel slighted.

 

Conclusion

As the old expression goes, “less is more.” If you can train yourself to get to the point using fewer (and better chosen) words, your listeners, viewers, readers and employees will respect you. Avoid redundant language that adds no value to the message. Our free resources have more

What are you and your colleagues doing to make incremental progress every day? I’d love to hear from you.

#businesscommunication, #thoughtleadership