Copy-wise: ‘Many say’, ‘Most agree’… or do they?

Copy-wise: ‘Many say’, ‘Most agree’… or do they?

Written by

Shirley Siluk
 

24/10/2016

How many of you have tried to sound more authoritative during a disagreement by hauling out the old, ‘They say…’ claim?
You know, as in, ‘They say Millennials don’t have the work ethic of Baby Boomers,’ or, ‘They say no one has time to write thank-you notes anymore.’

photo credit: Sergey Zolkin via Unsplash (licence)
photo credit: Sergey Zolkin via Unsplash (licence)

But who are ‘they’? When asked, we probably wouldn’t be able to answer.
As Adam Johnson at Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) noted in a commentary earlier this year, claims of ‘they say’, ‘most agree’ and ‘some say’ are weasel phrases, a “rhetorical tic” that attempts to imply a consensus that may or may not exist… or to unfairly sow doubt about a contrary point of view.

In his analysis of economic reporting, Johnson wrote, “The problem with the refrain, aside from the fact that it’s a weasel phrase that wouldn’t pass muster in a 10th grade rhetoric class, is that it’s designed to posture, to aggrandise an argument based solely on the insertion of an entirely made-up consensus of bespectacled, important men hovering over data and dispassionately reaching conclusions that happen to dovetail with the author’s own positions.”

Despite these failings, this kind of phrasing is common in advertisements, news articles, reports and other places, as Johnson amply documents. Make a point of watching for it the next time you go online or watch TV: you’ll probably notice it’s used far more often than you might have realised before.

The problem with using ‘many agree’-type expressions in writing is that it asserts something that should be provable… but in fact does nothing to prove it. Worse still, it weakens – rather than strengthens – the case you’re trying to make if the facts really do support your claim.

Consider, for example, which of the following two sentences is stronger:
‘Most scientists agree that global warming is real.’
or
‘Studies have found that 97 per cent or more of active climate scientists agree that global warming is real.’

On the flip side, writing ‘many agree’ when there are no numbers to back that up misleads your readers. It’s better in that case to write something like, ‘While I can’t find industry-wide statistics to support this, I can personally think of a half-dozen executives who have told me…’

After all, good writing should be transparent and honest, acknowledging both the strengths and limitations of its arguments. When that’s your goal, there should be no room for weasel words and phrases.

More Content

Tech Quarterly

Our quarterly summary of top research, market stats, new developments and predictions in five key technology topics of importance to our readers and clients: artificial intelligence, automation, CIOs, Internet of Things and virtual reality/augmented reality/extended reality (VR/AR/XR).

If a major analyst report, survey or forecast has been published on any of these topics in the preceding three months, you’ll find out about it in Tech Quarterly.

Top
Collective Content
Overview

Cookies are small files that can contain information about you, your preferences, or your device. We use cookies on our website to make it work as expected and to gather certain types of information. Collective Content respects your right to privacy – you can choose not to allow some types of cookies

You can read our full cookie policy here: Cookie Policy

Our full privacy policy here: Privacy Policy

And our sites terms & conditions here: Terms & Conditions