“There’s nothing worse than…” Oh yes, there probably is.

There’s a famous slogan: “Nothing works faster than Anadin” to which many people replied: “So take nothing, because it works faster”.

It’s an example of so-called ‘weasel words’ in advertising.

Here are the top 20 results that Google throws up after a search for: “There’s nothing worse than…”

There’s nothing worse than…

• Sleeping in makeup. You wake up looking like a painting that’s been left out in a rainstorm
• Normal
• Waiting and not knowing what’ll happen to you
• Being disappointed in somebody
• Having everybody thinking alike, talking alike and having the same direction in mind
• A pantsuit
• A know-it-all
• Being afraid of saying something (especially if it MUST be heard)
• Too late
• The crusades
• Knowing how it ends
• A doctor’s receptionist
• A staunch woman
• Feeling like a ghost
• A woman scorned
• Wasted talent
• Being ordinary
• Being addicted to a bad song
• Love
• Death Dumbledore (?!)

Clearly, they cannot all be right. In fact, none of them can be right. Invest just a moment’s thought and you will soon think of any number of things that are worse than the items listed.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of starting a sentence the way you’ve heard other people start theirs. But that makes it a cliché. In copywriting, you need to be original, as well as accurate.

Ask me if you’d like help with that.

photo credit: IMG_0149 via photopin (license)