Comments on: Words that should be banned: Facilitate

By: Clare Lynch

Clare Lynch — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 11:02:14 +0000

Indeed, Lennie. You’d think people would have noticed by now that the smart prefer short, simple words.

By: Lennie Rose

Lennie Rose — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:02:10 +0000

Facilitate is a word that reminds of a bag of rocks that you push into a sentence to look smart. Thanks for the post. I couldn’t agree more.

By: Clare Lynch

Clare Lynch — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 11:04:29 +0000

Thanks, Brad.

I do think it’s very important to stay alert to how language can be used to manipulate or deceive (which seems to be what this blog is increasingly about).

The fact that, as you rightly say, so many people seem unaware of the connotations of the word “facilitate” is, to me, a sign of just how prevalent misleading language is.

By: Brad Shorr

Brad Shorr — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:48:46 +0000

Excellent post! I love your point about using “facilitate” to dodge responsibility. That is very careless and/or evasive usage … perhaps not even done consciously.

By: Clare Lynch

Clare Lynch — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:03:41 +0000

Of course, your potential employers may be impressed by the word!

By: Debs

Debs — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:45:24 +0000

….oh curses….I was trying to edit the bit of my CV about my work in training…..it’s riddled with the word…. Back to the drawing board….