Say the magic words

So, not only do we have to acknowlege that interviewers [well human beings generally, actually] are greatly influenced by first impressions and that attractive people tend to get the better deals wherever social interaction is involved, but now even on you application before anyone gets to assess your 'phwoar' factor [or, as in my case, lack of] the vocabulary we use gets good or bad vibes.

according to researchers at the University of Hertfordshire, whether you are successful comes down to the specific words and phrases used on your form

Actually the good vibe words in the list seem to be current buzz words, so there is clearly something going on about tuning in to the 'performance' jargon of current business culture. The age-old use of language to mark in and out groups, status etc.

What's a bit more interesting is the list of 'bad words to use'. Always, Awful, Bad, Fault, Hate, Mistake, Never, Nothing, Panic, Problems. These seem to be more about connotations and implicatory meanings. By using such starkly negatively-perceived vocabules, are we associating ourselves with their bad vibes? If so, this would be the flip-side of the way that advertising works at associating products or brands with words and ideas that have favourably connotations.

An Christians we may want to be aware of the subconsious impact of words upon us and resolve to work past it so that we may, in our responses, reflect more fully the God who sees the heart and isn't taken in by outward appearances. We may also want to become more fully aware of our own communicative impacts, especially in the use of words that have become central to our in-house discourse but are really not helpful outside of that and therefore off-putting to those we want to grab with our message. So, no matter how useful a concept 'sin' is, it needs retiring and good and better communicators found. For example.
EducationGuardian.co.uk | higher news | Say the magic words:On Del.icio.us: words, success, failure, application, university, psychology, recruitment, vocabulary, achievement, active, developed, evidence, experience, impact, individual, Involved, Planning, transferable skills