Start making sense.

One of the many things that bother me about our present world is how devoid of meaning language has become.

Just now I was on an elevator coming back from lunch. A group of people got on when the doors opened on seven. Of course, no one was looking up, or even aware of where they were. They were neck-deep in their iPhones.

About nine seconds later one of the group said, “Are we pressed?” Someone checked the panel and answered yes, and another member of the group responded, “Cool beans.”

Where did this phrase come from? When did beans become cool? And if beans are cool, what’s cool about having had your floor pressed?

This is but a poor example of what we do more and more of. Talk (or write) without meaning. Like the statement I saw from someone earlier this week on Agency Spy: “I think of myself as a solution builder who knows how to tell stories with data. I was drawn to being part of this agency at the nexus of data, strategy, creativity, and technology.”


What could that possibly mean? Is that how you'd explain to your mother or your daughter what you do for a living?

For 20 years, while Ammirati & Puris handled the BMW business and the writing for BMW was pretty much the best in the industry. Consider these lines: “You’re judged by performance. Why drive a car that lives by a lesser code?” “Is your luxury car chronologically new, but technologically old?” “The BMW Coupe. As close to an all-out racing machine as a passenger car should ever come.”

That's writing with meaning. And feeling. And intensity.

That writing is the brand’s legacy—the brand’s brand. Yet yesterday this writing from BMW assailed my inbox. “BMW’s history is dotted with legendary vehicles, but even among those, the 7 Series is held in particularly high regard. With its confident and poised exterior to its lavish and driver-oriented interior, the BMW 7 Series has been the first and last name of the full-size luxury sedan segment for more than 40 years.” 

A lot of words. Not a lot of meaning.

In fact, below I’ve crossed out all the words that say or add nothing or are so devoid of luster that they distract.

“BMW’s history is dotted with legendary vehicles, but even among those, the 7 Series is held in particularly high regard. With its confident and poised exterior to its lavish and driver-oriented interior, the BMW 7 Series has been the first and last name of the full-size luxury sedan segment for more than 40 years.” 

They say people don’t read anymore. Yet this humble organ, er, this blog, gets 25,000 views/week. Maybe what people don’t read and don’t hear is language that sucks.

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