It’s Friday afternoon, the perfect time to play some bullshit bingo.

The rules are simple. When in a meeting, draw a matrix of 5 by 5 squares. Fill in the squares with words that are sooooo overly used that no one exactly knows its meaning. Agree on the words (or use the example below) and start the meeting.

When players hear any of their bullshitwords spoken in the meeting, they cross it off their cards. Card full? Shout “Bullshit!!” as loud as you can and claim your prize, whatever that may be.

So what’s the link with PR? My point is that we as PR professionals have the tendency to use the same, often meaningless, words over and over again. Does anyone believe you when you use phrases such as state-of-the-art, leading supplier of…, and unique?

Soon to follow, my top-XX of words that should be banned from every press release or document.