Language truly matters. Organizations undermine their credibility when they use language laden with jargon, cliche and hyperbole. What technology company doesn't tout its many "solutions," often to problems that don't exist, thus rendering the word meaningless? What company doesn't speak or write breathlessly about "leadership" or "quality," whether or not these attributes actually exist?
A Gotham Books ad in yesterday's New York Times offers a case in point. The ad for the new book on baseball and steroids, "Game of Shadows," finds ESPNews proclaiming that, "Like Woodward and Bernstein who brought down Nixon, a pair of San Francisco Chronicle reporters may do the same to Barry Bonds and his home run record." Excuse me! At a time when this nation needs real Woodwards and Bernsteins on the White House and Congressional beats, does ESPN really mean to compare some pumped-up ballplayers to the Presidency? It's time for some perspective boys. Not even Bob Woodward is Bob Woodward anymore.
Poor language turns most any kind of thinking into, well, you guessed it - mush!
Tamworth, NH
A Gotham Books ad in yesterday's New York Times offers a case in point. The ad for the new book on baseball and steroids, "Game of Shadows," finds ESPNews proclaiming that, "Like Woodward and Bernstein who brought down Nixon, a pair of San Francisco Chronicle reporters may do the same to Barry Bonds and his home run record." Excuse me! At a time when this nation needs real Woodwards and Bernsteins on the White House and Congressional beats, does ESPN really mean to compare some pumped-up ballplayers to the Presidency? It's time for some perspective boys. Not even Bob Woodward is Bob Woodward anymore.
Poor language turns most any kind of thinking into, well, you guessed it - mush!
Tamworth, NH