English Grammar for the Utterly Confused - Laurie Rozakis 2003
Avoid Empty Language
Chapter 14 Words and Expressions to Avoid
Part 5 Struttin Your Stuff with Style
When’s the last time someone tried to sell you an “underground condominium”? It’s the newest term for a grave. See any “personal manual data bases” being hawked on the home shopping network? They’re what we used to call calendars.
These phrases are artificial, evasive language. Each one pretends to communicate but really doesn’t. It is language that makes the bad seem good, the negative appear positive, the unpleasant become pleasant. It shifts responsibility and deliberately aims to distort and deceive.
Here are some additional examples of evasive language:
When writers use this kind of language, they hide the truth. Always use language truthfully.
1. Avoid inflated language.
Inflated language makes the ordinary seem extraordinary.
“automotive internists” for car mechanics
“vertical transportation corps” for elevator operators
Now, I’m all for giving someone praise (and even a fancy job title), but inflated language is fundamentally dishonest because it manipulates the truth. Therefore, write and speak clearly and directly.
2. Use euphemisms with care.
What do all the following expressions have in common?
• She’s between jobs.
• He has to see a man about a horse.
• He cashed in his chips.
• She’s pushing up daisies.
• She’s a woman of a certain age.
These sentences are all euphemisms, inoffensive or positive words or phrases used to avoid a harsh reality. Euphemisms are a type of evasive language because they cloud the truth. You find them in all potentially embarrassing situations, such as losing a job, bathroom activities, dying, nudity, body parts, sex, and aging.
• Avoid euphemisms if they obscure your meaning. Most of the time, euphemisms drain meaning from truthful writing. As a result, they can make it difficult for your readers and listeners to understand your meaning.
• Use euphemisms to spare someone’s feelings, especially in delicate situations. You should use euphemisms when you are trying to spare someone’s feelings or out of concern for a recognized social custom, as when you say, “I am sorry your sister passed away” rather than “I am sorry your sister died.”
3. Avoid bureaucratic language.
Bureaucratic language is wordy and unnecessarily complex. As a result, it becomes meaningless because it is evasive and wordy.
Original: The internal memorandum previously circulated should be ignored and disregarded and instead replaced by the internal memorandum sent before the previous one was sent. The memorandum presently at the current time being held by the appropriate personnel should be combined with the previous one to call attention to the fact that the previous one should be ignored by the reader.
Revision: Replace the first memorandum you received with the one that followed it. Please attach this notice to the canceled version.
Use the following checklist to identify empty language in all its forms. As you reread your own writing to eliminate empty language, ask yourself these questions:
• What do my words mean?
• To whom is the remark addressed?
• Under what conditions is the remark being made?
• What is my intent?
• What is the result of the remarks?
• Which words will help me express my ideas most clearly and directly?