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The Weltchek Weekly

Your Bulletin for Better Business Writing

 
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Your Bulletin for Better Business Writing

If It’s Incredible, Why Should I Believe It?

  • Category: Write
  • |
  • On August 10, 2021

We’ve reached an incredible milestone. We’ve made incredible progress. I’m incredibly proud of the team.

That word crops up everywhere, which I find amusing because incredible means something is too improbable to be believed. (Haven’t you ever said, “I don’t find that credible”?)

Yes, incredible has a secondary meaning, which is extraordinary and amazing, but even in that capacity, incredible is a ho-hum, vanilla word. Extraordinary is better. Significant is good too, but not with milestone because that word means a significant event. And “I’m proud of the team” is praise enough!

At a recent memorial, someone described the deceased as an incredible woman. She would have preferred remarkable, exceptional or just plain great.

Save incredible for super heroes and their incredible feats!

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