Let’s start off 2016 with a new Quickie series of Mini-Rants called ‘I Don’t Get It!’
How often has this happened to you? You ask someone at a networking event where their business is located and hear ‘Cleveland Ohio’. Technically correct, but why the need to remind us what state Cleveland is in? Kind of a waste of time. I don’t get it!
Now when we took our youngest son to Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro TN, for the first time, we learned quickly to say that we were from ‘Cleveland OH’ as there was a ‘Cleveland TN’ very near there. But is that necessary up here?
A key concept in my workplace writing workshops is to ‘cut anything unnecessary!’ So, ask yourself if your reader or listener really needs a reminder that Cleveland is in OH. It may only save a half-second of time or two characters in the Twitter context, but it’s a small step towards a more concise and focused use of language. Get it?