gobbledygook detector

When phrases become overused, hackneyed and clichéd, they become gobbledygook.
And when you use gobbledygook, your writing becomes meaningless.
What are the worst offenders? Marketing strategist and author David Meerman Scott analysed all 711,123 press releases distributed in 2008 by North American companies through Business Wire, Marketwire, GlobeNewswire, and PR Newswire to find the most overused words and phrases.

The worst offenders were:

Rank

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25

Word/phrase

Innovate
Please to
Unique
Focused on
Leading provider
Commitment
Partnership
New and improved
Leverage
120 percent
Cost effective
Next generation
110 percent
Flexible
World class
Robust
High performance
Scalability
Proud to
Optimise
Outcomes
In terms of
Value added
Easy to use
Metrics

Uses

51,390
48,762
48,095
40,964
33,101
29,621
28,969
20,167
19,243
16,916
15,454
15,371
13,659
13,656
13,407
13,309
13,049
11,929
9,877
9,547
9,329
9,217
8,725
8,398
6,851

Warning bells should ring when you read guff like: We are pleased to announce our new and improved commitment is 120 per cent more cost effective and will deliver world class outcomes that optimise scalability and leverage value-added metrics.
So how do you avoid gobbledygook? As Meerman Scott says, just use words your customers use.
• Gauge the gobbledygook content of any piece of writing, go to the Gobbledygook Grader
• Find out more about gobbledygook, go to Meerman Scott’s website
• Read Meerman Scott’s Gobbledygook Manifesto