The BBC recently published a wonderful article examining the rise in the impossible declaration of giving more than 100% effort.
But hang on a minute. Isn’t 100% meant to be the limit, as far as you can go?
There once was a time when 100% really meant something. That was the top figure you could commit, or the maximum you were allowed for a mortgage, 100% of your house’s value.
But then came linguistic – as well as mortgage – inflation.
100% effort means full capacity, and is commendable. Exaggerating commitment to 110%, 200%, 500% makes no sense, and is meaningless jargon that should be avoided in business writing.
Read the full article BBC article here.
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Excellent point, Mary. So many marketing writers let themselves get carried away with this practice – it’s not even funny any more. It’s bad enough in verbal sales pitches, but when it creeps into print, it destroys the credibility of the message. This one ranks high in my list of all-time pet peeves – right up there with “free gift”.
Charles, I so agree “free gift” feels insincere. Coincidentally, we highlighted “free gift” last month in the Error Hunt on our newsletter, and I heard from readers that most didn’t find it, when hunting the error. This proves how much that redundant term has crept into marketing and business writing – sadly! Free gift is jargon that should be cut: http://www.instructionalsolutions.com/newsletter/word-choice-error