21 Mar Introducing the ‘Puffspeak’ Translator
Do you try to impress your audience with fancy words because you think it makes you seem intelligent? Do you use the same pompous phrases your boss and clients use – simply because you believe they expect you to?
Sadly, many useless and inflated words have pummelled their way into our everyday business language. I call it ‘puffspeak’.
Puffspeak is annoying. Meaningless. And pretentious.
We publish websites, blog posts, brochures and news releases because we want our audience to read and grasp our message. And most of the time, we want them to act on it.
But that won’t happen if they can’t understand it.
Here are 50 examples of ‘puffspeak’ words and suggested replacements. (The 10 turquoise words are particularly overused. Watch out for these especially.)
| Puffspeak | Simpler choice |
| Activate | Start |
| Advantageous | Helpful, useful |
| Aggregate | Total, sum |
| Alleviate | Ease, reduce |
| Ascertain | Find out, learn |
| Assistance | Help |
| Buy-in | Support, agreement |
| Capability | Ability |
| Circumvent | Avoid |
| Conceptualise | Think |
| Cost-effective | Profitable, money-saving |
| Deliverables | Results |
| Discontinue | Stop |
| Disseminate | Spread |
| Empower | Assign responsibility, delegate |
| Endeavour | Try |
| Feedback | Response |
| Finalise | Finish |
| Holistic | Complete, comprehensive |
| Impacted | Affected, changed |
| Inception | Start, beginning |
| Infrastructure | Facilities |
| Innovative | Creative, inventive |
| Learnings | Lessons |
| Leverage | Gain, win |
| Mission critical | Critical |
| Modality | Style |
| Notwithstanding | Although, even though |
| Numerous | Many |
| Operational | Working |
| Optimal | Ideal |
| Optimise | Improve |
| Optimum | Best |
| Overriding | Major |
| Parameters | Limits, guidelines |
| Ramifications | Effects, consequences |
| Regarding | About |
| Requirement | Need |
| Scalable | Grow, expand |
| State-of-the-art | Latest |
| Strategic | Smart |
| Suffice | Enough |
| Synergy | Collaboration, cooperation, consolidation |
| Systemise | Organise |
| Terminated | Ended, finished |
| Time-frame | Schedule |
| Upwardly mobile | Successful |
| Utilise | Use |
| Visualise | See, predict |
