The List first appeared after a New Year’s Eve party in 1975.  Since then, LSSU has received tens of thousands of nominations for the list, which includes words and phrases from marketing, the media, education, technology, and elsewhere.

We commend LSSU for this important service.

Anyone wishing to submit a word or a phrase for consideration should first check the complete list on the website.

The 2010 list:

Shovel-ready — Transparent / transparency — Czar — Tweet — App — Sexting — Friend as a verb — Teachable moment — In these economic times . . . — Stimulus — Toxic assets — Too big to fail — Bromance — Chillaxin’ — OBAMA-prefix or roots

It seems that almost every day now you hear people using the phrase, “That begs the question.”  Unfortunately, most people get it wrong.

I suspect they’re like me; they know that for some reason that isn’t quite clear, it sounds smarter than, “That raises the question.”  So they think if they use it, they’ll sound smart, too.

I was lucky.  Maybe I picked it up in Freshman Writing, or maybe I heard William F. Buckley use it on Firing Line to put old Bella Abzug in her place.

In any case, I had a vague notion it meant more than raising a question, and a little research revealed that it is a logical fallacy.  It means to assume what you are trying to prove.

If all WFB had been saying was, “Bella, that raises a question,” milquetoast responses like that would’ve killed Firing Line in its first season.  What he was really saying was, “Bella, I believe your argument is a classic case of petitio principia.  You’re assuming that which you are trying to prove.”

Unfortunately for his opponents, WFB could spot a logical fallacy from a hundred paces.

Here’s an example of begging the question that turned up with a little web research:

Person A: Selling liquor on Sundays is illegal in this town, because it’s bad.

Person B: They sell liquor in the next town over on Sundays, and everyone’s okay with that.  Why is it bad?

Person A: If it weren’t bad, it wouldn’t be illegal, would it?

Person A demonstrates that begging the question is a form of circular reasoning.  He is begging the question (Why is it bad to sell liquor on Sunday?) because the answer he gives fails to demonstrate that selling liquor on Sunday is bad.  It just assumes it’s bad.

Here’s another, less obvious one:

Person A: I believe you should be a good person.

Person B: But I just want to make as much money as possible and do what I want to do.  Why should I be good?

Person A: Because being good benefits society.

Again, Person A begs the question (Why should I be good?) because the answer he gave is the same as his premise.  “Benefit society” is just another way of saying “Be good.”  Being good is benefiting society.  You might as well say, “Benefiting society benefits society.”

If you’re interested in other logical fallacies, check out a book on composition and rhetoric, such as: The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric.

Ron Vlieger is a financial writer in New York City.

Comments from the three experts:

Geraint Anderson was one of the UK’s top four brokers before writing his book Cityboy: Beer and Loathing in the Square Mile about “financial philanderings” in the financial services industry.  In the documentary, he said, “we in the City use arcane language and peculiar terminology to confuse those who don’t earn as much as us (i.e., pretty much everyone).  It makes us sound like we’re doing something extraordinarily complicated and technically unfathomable and keeps our potential detractors in the dark.  We are a much harder target if the ‘common man’ feels intimidated by our complex world and doesn’t even understand what we do.  We push around bits of paper.  That’s what we do.  That’s all we do.”

Alchemy Partners’ Jon Moulton, another highly respected financial figure, made this comment: “UK banks got involved with things they couldn’t measure, couldn’t control, didn’t understand.  Some got into very sexy, almost incomprehensible contracts.  Synthetic mezzanine CLO squareds?  Not sure I know what it is either but I promise you that some of the banks have them.”

Neil Smith, the chief investment officer at Corham Capital said, the “simple fact is that things had become so complicated that only those people directly involved with the creation of these products knew what they were.  CDO (collateralized debt obligation) guys had every sales trick in the book . . . .  Their whole strategy was to make people feel silly if they didn’t understand the product.”

Let’s learn from this.  When we encounter unclear communication on an important subject – in business, finance, politics, or elsewhere – somebody is probably hiding something.

[I plead guilty to committing a serious business jargon offense.  According to the Daily Telegraph, “credit crunch” occupies the number 8 spot on their top-20 list of the most despised business jargon terms.]

h/t to Plain English Campaign

We’ve heard this advice many times over.  So why do managers at top companies and experienced business owners make so many disastrous (and expensive) mistakes in their marketing communication?

A few classic examples from the global business file:

•    Executives at General Motors didn’t understand why the Chevy Nova wasn’t selling well in Latin America until they realized that in Spanish “no va” means “it doesn’t go.”
•    Ford marketed the Comet in Mexico as the Caliente, which literally means “hot.”  Colloquially, it means “horny” or “streetwalker.”
•    Perdue’s slogan, “It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken” was mistranslated into Spanish as “It takes a man to make a chicken aroused.”

We can’t get away with only considering how well we write something.

We must never lose sight of our audience.  How will they receive our message?

As Mary says, “100% effort means full capacity, and is commendable.  Exaggerating commitment to 110%, 200%, 500% makes no sense, and is meaningless jargon that should be avoided in business writing.”

I’m with you on this, Mary.  I once had a boss who was a serial offender.  In meetings with clients he’d proclaim, “We’re dedicated to your success a thousand percent.”  I’d try my best (100%) not to groan and roll my eyes.

Now that we’re fired up on the subject of egregious business jargon, what are some other examples?  For starters, here are a few, with suggestions for correction.

• Out of pocket – unavailable
• Bandwidth – capacity
• Human capital – people
• Leverage (as a verb) – to take advantage of
• Dialogue – talk
• Impact (as a verb) – to have an effect on

Let’s strike a blow for the language and push back against (I mean resist) offensive and confusing jargon.

What are your pet peeves? Let me know and I’ll compile a collection in a future post.

Where does your company stand regarding these choices?

• Web site – web site – website
• Internet – internet

Even if your company’s website has only 1 or 2 writers or editors, a style guide will help to keep your content consistent.  It will be invaluable to contract proofreaders and copywriters who come in without any idea of your company’s position on style and usage.

In addition to settling questions about new words and terms, your website style guide can reflect company policy on:

• Avoiding accusations of sexism: “the customer . . . they” (instead of “he”)
• Treatment of numbers: always use numerals or spell out “one” through “nine”?
• Always use “%” or spell out “percent” in text and use “%” only in charts and tables?

To avoid confusion on basic grammar and usage, include a section on capitalization, abbreviations, terminology peculiar to your industry, and “problem” word choices, such as “its” vs. “it’s”, “that” vs. “which”, and “affect” vs. “effect”.  Include any others that vex your writers and editors.

Your website style guide should agree with your corporate style guide, if there is one.  Otherwise, it can be based on a published guide.

Someone on your staff should “own” the website style guide and be responsible for keeping it current.

• Although – even though.  Both have the same meaning, but “even though” is more emphatic.  Both combine two phrases that form a contrast.  (Although it was November, he wore a Panama hat.  Even though she smokes two packs of cigarettes a day, she’s a famous cardiologist.)
• Farther – further.  This one is easy if you remember “far”.  Use “farther” to talk about physical distance.  Get it?  (How much farther do we have to drive?)  Use “further” with figurative distance.  (You’re further along in your project than I am in mine.)  Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between physical and figurative distance; in such cases, it’s OK to flip a coin.
• Like – as.  Even though “like” is used almost all the time in everyday speech, there is a difference.  “Like” is a preposition and should be followed by an object to form a prepositional phrase.  (My date looked like a hamster.)  “As” is a conjunction and should be followed by a clause containing a subject and a verb.  (The warthog squealed as if he had a toothache.)
• That – which.  “That” introduces a restrictive (defining) clause – the person or thing being talked about.  (I have a car that is easy to drive.)  “Which” introduces a nonrestrictive clause – one that gives additional information about something that has already been identified.  (He wore a fur hat, which his wife had given him for his birthday.)  In this use, “which” is always preceded by a comma.
• Who – that.  The best rule of thumb is to use “who” when writing about a person.  (He’s the vet who cured my ferret.)  Use “that” when writing about an object.  (This is the book that came in the mail.)

As a business grows, it produces more correspondence, email, proposals, marketing material, press releases, and articles in outside publications.  Then there are white papers, HR booklets, and documents that must comply with government standards.   Sooner or later, there’s confusion about the “right way” to write something.  There may already be general (unspoken) agreement about writing style, but a new employee or an outside writer will be at a disadvantage.

Advantages to having a company style manual:

• Provides consistency
• Establishes a certain “sound” for external publications
• Answers common questions on usage, punctuation, and abbreviations
• Sets rules for avoiding charges of sexism
• Saves time spent on revisions

A good way to start is for the company to adopt a third-party style guide, such as The Chicago Manual of Style.  There are other, industry-specific and technical, style guides.  Next, the company can use the third-party guide as backup and write a supplement that gives:

• Terminology used by the company and its industry
• The company’s preferences – including those that differ with the third-party guide
• Answers to FAQs from the staff and outside parties
• Examples of writing that complies with the company’s style

Here’s a short review of some of those pesky words:

• Affect – effect. These are tough because they can be either nouns or verbs.  (a) As a noun: “Affect” is a technical term used in psychology; “Effect” means essence or appearance (economic effects).  (b) As a verb: “Affect” means to produce a material influence upon or to act upon (how day care affects the company). “Effect” means to bring about (to effect changes).
• Historic – historical.  “Historic” means having great and lasting importance (his election was historic).  “Historical” means having the character of history (a historical survey of popular music).
• Its – it’s.  “Its” is the possessive of “it” (the cat ate its dinner).  “It’s” is the contraction for “it is” (it’s time to go).
• Lay – lie.  “Lay” is a transitive verb, i.e., it requires an object and transmits its action from a subject to an object (the duck lays an egg.  You don’t lay down).  “Lie” is an intransitive verb, i.e., it doesn’t require an object (you lie down).
• Principal – principle.  As a noun, “principal” means a capital sum (principal earns interest) or, as an adjective, the most important (the team’s principal shortstop).  “Principle” is only a noun.  It means a fundamental law or doctrine; a rule (conservative principles).  Tip: think of the “le” in both “principle” and “rule”).

Early in his classic book for nonfiction writers, On Writing Well, William Zinsser tells us that writing isn’t something reserved for English teachers or those with a gift for words.  Anyone who can think clearly about a subject can write clearly about it.

The essence of good writing is rewriting.  It’s not unusual to rewrite an article or a business report 3, 4, or 5 times.  Did you choose the right words?  Are any unnecessary words hiding in there?

If you wrote a long word when a short word would say the same thing, use the short one.

• Implement (do)
• Numerous (many)
• Facilitate (ease)

Are you using word clusters?

• At this point in time (now)
• With the possible exception of (except)
• Until such time as (until)

Good business writers don’t use inflated words to sound important.  They avoid jargon and buzzwords.  The more superfluous words you cut, the better the writing.  Don’t forget to watch for unnecessary modifiers, e.g., a personal friend (a friend).

Remember Strunk and White’s rule in The Elements of Style: “Omit needless words”.