Drop The Ambiguity

Lift Your Language

Ambiguity is one of the many enemies of effective writing. In the chain of successful communication, it is often a link-breaker.

So many words or phrases that produce ambiguity! So little time!

Here’s one:

Dropped

It’s a trendy buzzword, particularly on social media but also in advertising, story previews and headlines. It has become the ‘go to’ word to announce something new has arrived on the scene. We get that.

But ‘dropped’ also has another, well-established and sometimes opposite meaning: that something that was there before has been removed.

This reality can’t be ignored.

The problem arises when the context doesn’t make clear which meaning applies. And that equals ambiguity.

The ambiguity trap

Consider these (they are all real examples):

Netflix recently dropped two mystery thriller series.
(‘released’ or ‘cancelled’?)

The Warriors recently dropped two young players.
(‘introduced’ into or ‘removed’ from the squad?)

McDonald’s has dropped its ‘Special Grade’ Garlic Sauce.
(‘deleted’ from or ‘added’ to the list of menu options?)

The online store has dropped several new products.
(‘launched’ or ‘discontinued’?)

Winter prices for heating appliances have dropped.
(‘fallen’ or ‘just been announced’?)

And there you have it.

Five sentences, ten interpretations of ‘dropped’.

You cannot know for sure, on reading these sentences, which of the bracketed alternatives is the intended meaning.

If you wrote the sentences, would you be 100% confident your readers would know what you meant? Without context?

It shouldn’t be a guessing game. But it often is.

A little extra thought or a few extra words would add clarity to the sentences above.

If we read ‘she dropped the ball’, ‘the players were dropped from the team’ or ‘the market value dropped to its lowest ever level’, most of us would understand immediately.

And if we said ‘drop me a text’, ‘new episodes dropped into my feed’ or ‘a message dropped into my inbox’, that would be pretty clear.

As always, clarity is key. We need to check how our messages might be received.

Adopting new ways of using words is fine but ignoring accepted meanings and the possibility of alternative interpretations can lead to confusion and ambiguity.

Good communication shouldn’t involve word riddles.