In this issue
	THANK YOU! The world's most irritating phrases Report-writing: Reasons to do it well Question Time And finally ...

The world's most irritating phrases

Plain English supporters around the world have voted "At the end of the day" as the most irritating phrase in the language. Second place in the vote was shared by "At this moment in time" and the constant use of "like" as if it were a form of punctuation. "With all due respect" came fourth. The Plain English Campaign (an independent pressure group launched on 26 July 1979) surveyed its 5000 supporters in more than 70 countries as part of the build-up to its 25th anniversary. Spokesman John Lister said over-used phrases were a barrier to communication. "When readers or listeners come across these tired expressions, they start tuning out and completely miss the message - assuming there is one! Using these terms in daily business is about professional as wearing a novelty tie or having a wacky ringtone on your phone." The rest of the top ten most irritating phrases were: With all due respect To be honest Touch base I hear what you're saying Going forward Absolutely Blue sky thinking If you want to see more phrases that received multiple nominations, please click here. In Plain English Campaign's recent weekly e-newsletter, they reported: The widespread coverage of the survey (including an appearance on the front page of The Times and national television pieces on BBC1, BBC News 24 and Sky News) suggests we have struck a nerve, opened a can of worms, heard what people are saying, scored a home run, and any other cliché you wish to use! We also received several e-mails that simply read "Get a life." We're not sure if these were intended to be general comments about us or nominations for clichÈs! Shirley Says: If you haven't discovered the Plain English Campaign's excellent website, you don't know what you're missing - go check it out now. Read more about The Plain English Campaign »

Report-writing: Reasons to do it well

Thank you to Tim North for allowing permission for me to reproduce this article. Please see the note at the foot of this article to find out how you can read more from Tim North. Tim says: I'm in the process of writing a course for a client who needs to improve his staff's report-writing abilities. The problem he faces is that report writing is not the main element of their jobs. Their main duties are outdoors, and so they tend to resent the time they spend deskbound writing reports. The first chapter of the new training material thus involves presenting them with some motivation to write well. He's tried a size-ten boot and it didn't work. :-) Here then is an abbreviated extract from that course: You probably don't have a burning desire to write reports. Nonetheless, you've ended up having to write them. There's a natural tendency to want to get the darn things written and off your desk as soon as possible. There are all sorts of reasons for this: Writing can be a pain in the behind. You didn't take this job to become a writer. You've got a dozen other "real jobs" that need doing. You're just having one of those days (or weeks or months). It's Friday afternoon. etc. We can all identify with these feelings. Still, to use a cliché, if something's worth doing, it's worth doing *well*. Now that's not just hollow sentiment. There are good reasons for taking your writing responsibilities seriously. If you want to read about a few of them, please read the rest of this article by Tim North. © 2004 Tim North Thank you to Tim North for allowing permission for me to reproduce this article. You'll find many more helpful tips like these in Tim North's much applauded range of e-books. FREE SAMPLE CHAPTERS are available, and all books come with a money-back guarantee. http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com. Read the rest of this article on report-writing »

Question Time

What? No questions this month? Come on, you can do better than that. If you have a question please put 'Question Time' in the subject line, and write to me at news@shirleytaylor.com. I'll do my best to answer your questions. Meanwhile if you want to check out previous FAQ please click on the link.

And finally ...

TIP OF THE MONTH "Time spent writing well is not wasted. You benefit, the reader benefits, your employer benefits. It's a win-win-win situation." If you would like to receive a FREE COPY of one of my books, please send your tips to me at news@shirleytaylor.com. I hope you've enjoyed this issue of Shirley Says. If you have any ideas about what you would like me to include in future issues, please write to me at news@shirleytaylor.com. PS: You may reprint this e-newsletter or forward it to your customers and colleagues. However please keep this copyright and contact information intact: Copyright Shirley Taylor 2004. Shirley Taylor is author of several popular books on effective communication and business writing. She lives in Singapore and works as an international trainer, seminar leader, professional writer and conference speaker.