5 ways to rethink definitions
When I was customizing an in-house writing workshop for a utility company, I wanted to see whether there was a better way to define kilowatt hour, or kWh, for consumers.… Read the full article
Jargon
Make tech terms clear
Bring complex, scientific words, phrases to life
How do you make technical, medical and bureaucratic terms clear? Winners of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Magazine Award demonstrate their techniques:
1.
… Read the full articleMake nanotechnology accessible
Model physicist Richard Feynman’s piece
So you think your subject is complex? Try taking on the topic of nanotechnology.
That’s the subject of “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom: An Invitation to Enter a New Field of Physics,” a classic speech by Richard Feynman, one of the most influential American physicists of the 20th century.… Read the full article
Run the B2B test
Are you using industry terms or in-house terms?
As I was conducting one-on-one writing coaching with a client recently, I noticed that he’d used the term “onboarding” without defining it in a press release for trade publications.… Read the full article
Start making sense
Convince reviewers to abandon jargon
Richard Teerlink, chairman of Harley-Davidson, stands in front of a screen showing a bicep emblazoned with his company’s logo.
“We don’t call them tattoos any more,” he told his audience.… Read the full article
Use the terms in your reader’s head
Not the terms in your head
When it comes to medical terms, readers don’t know what communicators are talking about, according to T. J. and Sandar Larkin.… Read the full article
‘Solution’ strikes again
‘Pet waste removal service’ scoops up worst buzzword
“Solution,” according to the Gable Group’s late, great Jargonator, is one of the most overused buzzwords of the day: