Don Watson called them ‘weasel words’.
We use them everyday to impress, fit in, bamboozle, or show how damn clever we are.
They’re inescapable; but are they inevitable?
Are you willing to let go of your ‘capabilities’ and your ‘empowered workforce’; your ‘stakeholders’ and your ‘benchmarks’? Probably not. And why should you? They serve a purpose – to help you communicate with people like you. But what about when you need to think and act differently? When you need to connect with new audiences or generations?
Language shapes our thinking; depleted words can lead to depleted thinking. Imagination is often the casualty when we overuse weasel words; shared understanding of what we are trying to communicate also suffers.
And what about democracy?
Weasel words often privilege the world view of a particular managerial caste, freezing out anyone who isn’t part of the club.
Innocent or corrosive – weasel words are here to stay. It’s not about elimination but choice.
Getting off the weasel wagon – even for a day or a few hours – can really get your synapses singing. make stuff happen offers playful weasel-busting workshops, where we apply first aid to the worst offenders. You’ll laugh, you’ll cringe, you’ll want to re-write your strategic plan, and you might even learn to love haiku…..
References
Watson, Don, 2003, Death Sentence, Knopf, Sydney
www.weaselwords.com.au