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I’ve developed an extreme dislike for the word “interesting”. It’s the word that leads off the dullest blog posts, and the most auto-pilot link sharing on Twitter. Everything’s an ‘interesting take…interesting read…interesting article…interesting meeting…interesting link…’ Interesting isn’t it? Not really.

If it were truly of interest, couldn’t we find a better word, like “Intriguing”, “Fascinating”, “Spellbinding”, “Educational”, “Enlightening”, “Hilarious”, “Gut-busting”, “Wrong-headed”, “Spot-on”…need I go on?

Better yet, doesn’t the fact that you posted it presume that you found something of interest in it? That you thought we, your audience, would react to it? If so, could you not simply describe it, and let your audience decide if it’s interesting?

The good writing principle is “Show, Don’t Tell.” Calling something “interesting” should live in the category of phrases where, “if you have to say it, it’s probably not.”