There’s been much rejoicing in the Writers office recently, after we discovered another (highly unexpected) ally in our constant battle for clearer communication. Read more
We spotted a great article on the BBC News site this morning. It pretty much parallels what we come across every day as copywriters – words intended to get across good qualities, but now so overused that they either mean nothing, or suggest the opposite. Read more
As copywriters, we already have first-hand experience of how certain sectors’ obsession with ‘process’ and using impenetrable, jargon-heavy language is strangling the common sense out of, well, just about everything. So how pleased we were, when this brilliant but worrying article appeared on the BBC News website. Read more
Why? Because if you don’t, people will ask you what you actually mean, and then you’ll have to explain yourself the way you should have done first time around. Which can be embarrassing and time-consuming. Read more
My name is Joe Santamaria and I’m sixteen years old. I have spent five days work experience at the Writers copywriting office in Bristol. I hope I can pass onto you as many of the ins and outs of my week here in this blog as possible. Read more
If marketing copy is easy to read, for everyone, then surely the messages are getting across. And that’s the point, right? So it’s baffling to see businesses and organisations, large and small, across all sectors, encrypting their communications with words like ‘holistic’, ‘deliverables’, ‘driving’, ‘actioning’, and ‘engagement’. We’ve long known there’s no conceivable justification for... Read more
In recent years, have you ever seen the word ‘sparingly’ anywhere other than on a tube of skin cream or ointment? It’s almost become medical jargon. Read more
There’s a great running joke in 1987’s cult romantic comedy ‘The Princess Bride’. The good guy relentlessly pursues the bad guys, and every time they fail to shake him off the ringleader says it’s “inconceivable”. Eventually one of his sidekicks says, “You keep saying that word. I do not think it means what you think... Read more
While moving house recently (packing endless boxes of books) I came across George Orwell’s five rules of effective writing. They’re as relevant today as they were in 1946… Read more
Things will look different in the morning. Very true, on most days. I don’t know why, but sleeping seems to change your perceptions of things: when you wake up, you see them differently. Read more
