There’s been a spotlight on the dangers of pompous, impersonal, and jargon-filled business writing recently, (including here on this blog,) and I’ll admit it can be difficult to rein in. However, consumer-based businesses and communicators have no excuse. They shop, eat, and listen to the radio, too, right?
Most retailers don’t have customers anymore, because “care team members” serve their “guests.” Apparently this is cozier. For some reason, use of jargon has gone the other way.
Retailers now casually refer to SKU’s, and you may have a choice between a blister pack and “hanging assorted” at the store. We get cash from ATM’s when we don’t have time to visit consumer banking for a debit.
When preparing a frozen dinner, instructions often say, “Remove product from its overwrap.” “Be careful, contents will be extremely hot.” Mmmm, yummy.
One of my all-time favorites is a meteorologist’s prediction of a precipitation event.
But here’s what inspired me to write this post: I was on the web looking for a restaurant address, and their site had a nice interactive map. The instructions? “Click on your market.” And I thought we had something special….
