Weborrhoea

‘There have been few, if any alogotrophic perpetrators of terminological inexactitudes who have been more vociferous than those eviscerated by the scalpel of the hoi polloi via the fifth estate.’

I see you blink. You scratch your head. You turn your mobile sideways to see if landscape view makes this any clearer.

It does not. Welcome to the world of weborrhoea– logorrhoea for the information age. To relieve you of your utter confusion, a translation: ‘There haven’t been many big-headed liars who complain more than those who are exposed by the press.’

You may have noticed that the explanation not only makes infinitely more sense, but is also neither tedious, awkward, annoying or anywhere near as long. This urge to use logorrhoea — which is defined as ‘excessive and often incoherent talkativeness or wordiness’ or using circumlocution, diffuseness, diffusion, garrulity, garrulousness, verbiage, long-windedness, periphrasis, prolixity, redundancy, verbalism, verboseness, verbosity, windiness, or wordage — is annoying — and breaks up your sentences.

The temptation is clear: ‘If I use big, clever words that no one will probably understand without an Oxford English Dictionary plonked on their desk next to them, means I sound big and clever, too!’

Right?

Wrong.

‘Blinding people with science’ — making the meaning obscure in the belief that people can only feel awe when their read your turgid web or brochure copy is misguided, as well as being business suicide. You might as well fall on your Samurai katana and disembowel yourself now than use the literary equivalent of a doll’s letter-opener to announce your company’s brilliance to the world. People will laugh — and not with you, but at you.

And, if in a fit of hubris, after ‘accentuating your clients’ verticals’ (Why do I always feel a little dirty after writing that?) why not throw in some heavyweight empty rhetoric? ‘We are great: our greatness shines out from us like the sun. Everyone loves us as we do great things. We are the best. We are number one. Everyone says so. My mother likes us, too.’

Not a word of proof or a whiff of honesty there, but like the concerned propagandist, you believe your own flimsy propaganda. ‘If I think we’re great, so will everyone else.’

Ignore the reality that you have not given a single mote of proof to show why you’re good. The Emperor’s latest couture range has just arrived.

Chekhov once said, ‘Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me moonlight reflected on broken glass.’This is the crux — show, don’t tell. Show your customers what you’ve done and what you can do — give them a reason to see that you’re excellent.

Good writers use both of the elements of clarity and demonstration, stitching them together seamlessly.

This means people devour your content and your collaterals because they’re clear, interesting, meaningful, engaging, and are not full of the empty rhetoric so many companies are fond of using.

So, don’t forget: this is the 21st century. Make sure you employ a professional writer who knows that, too.

#storytelling #contentwriter #writingfortheweb #creativecontent #contentmarketing

Originally posted on Medium.com: https://cristinamagallon.medium.com/weborrhoea-1e964594a1b7 | Follow my page on LinkedIn at In My DNA for news and updates.