2005
Favorite Jargon-Busting Word Plugin
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Anne Fisher’s recent Fortune column on “Business Buzzwords That Make You Gag” is a reminder that we all need to monitor our use of jargon, especially when we’re talking to people outside our field.
When you’ve been marinating in a particular discipline for a long time, however, your own jargon become invisible to you. So how can you tell whether something you’ve written for the press or the public will be comprehensible?
Enter Bullfighter, a Microsoft Word plugin first developed by Deloitte Consulting. It’s been taken over by FightTheBull.com, publishers of Why Business People Speak Like Idiots (also available as an audiobook).
Bullfighter is freeware, designed for use on Windows XP with Microsoft Word 2002 or above. Download, install, and reboot your computer. Next time you open Word, you’ll see the Bullfighter toolbar. When you click on the “Bullfighter” button, the program runs a “bull check,” similar to a spelling check, which highlights bull words and gives you explanations of why they’re problematic, along with the option to change them to plain-English words. You can also find out what the “Bull Index” of a given document is. And you can add new bull words as they get coined.
If you provide consumer products and services or work with people outside your own field, you’ll do yourself a big favor by using certified bull-free marketing copy. Download Bullfighter today.
For continuous commentary on bull trends, check out the Bull Blog .