We recently came across a brilliant analysis conducted by blogger David Meerman Scott. He analyzed every press release distributed in the U.S. in 2008 and identified the top 25 most-used corporate cliches, which he calls "gobbledygook." Here are the top 10 words from Scott's analysis:

1. Innovate
2. Pleased to
3. Unique
4. Focused on
5. Leading Provider
6. Commitment
7. Partnership
8. New and Improved
9. Leverage
10. 120 percent

I'm willing to bet all of you have been guilty of using these phrases at one time or another in your writing - I'll admit I've overused a few of them myself! But as communicators, this analysis sends us a strong message. Words like "innovate" are overused because they are familiar and handy - they immediately jump to mind as we're writing and we use them as a reflex. But because they are so overused, they become like white noise and add very little to our writing. In fact, people typically tune out these words. This study demonstrates two things. First, we as PR people are dramatically overusing business-speak in our press releases. But it should also remind us that when these words are so overused, they really lose their power and meaning. Is your company's new product so "unique" when that word was used 48,000 times in a single year to describe hundreds of other products and initiatives? Let's all make a pledge to purge these words from our writing arsenals.  Reporters - and the world - will thank us for it. Be sure to read Brilliant Ink's own lists of corporate speak that is punishable by death:

• Corporate Speak is Punishable by Death: Part 1
• Corporate Speak is Punishable by Death: Part 2
• Corporate Speak is Punishable by Death: Part 3