Throat-clearing language

is a whole-ass thing

Today, free write in the persuasive essay realm, about absolutely anything calling to you today that you want people to understand. (Alternatively, you can revisit some work that fits that criteria that you’ve previously written and set aside.)

But, once you’ve written and decide to shift into your first read-through edit of the work, be on the alert for moments in which you use the most obvious “throat-clearing” language, the stuff that too often allows our imposter syndrome or lack of confidence or even our socialization undermine our footing on the things we know that we know:

“I think that…”

“I believe that…”

“In my opinion,…”

“I just wanted to…”

“Actually,…”

To be sure, sometimes there are perfectly fine to use. But, challenge yourself to notice how it feels when you say “In my opinion, I think we all deserve a second chance” versus, simply: “we all deserve a second chance.” Even the air around the second sentence is different. Try it.

And, once you get this, look for ways in which you perhaps invite throat-clearing into email and texts and how you might come across with more self-assurance by tweaking it. “I wanted to ask if you had the presentation finished?” is very different than “Is the presentation finished?” Play around with eliminating these things in your writing. Instead of “just wanting to ask about XYZ,” come right out and ask about XYZ. Don’t buffer your real question, and (harder still) definitely don’t buffer your real statements with “I think that” and “Maybe it’s best that” and other word-bumpers. Just say the thing.

And, to be clear, it’s not your fault at all if you find yourself using a lot of this type of language. Many of us are socialized to be nice, pleasing, easy-going, etc, and many of us get unfairly criticized for assertiveness. Those are real things, and only you can make the calculation as to when to turn that switch on/off, but the point here is to be aware of it rather than doing it by rote.

Anyway, let’s rip into some outcome-hopeful sort of writing today. Let’s go.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash