The 40 tells · Words · No. 14
Why "meticulous" makes writing sound machine-made
Flagged "Meticulous"
"Meticulously crafted" and "intricate details" are the go-to praise in machine-written product copy. They claim care without showing any.
Care is easier to believe when the page shows the step most people skip.
Before
Each piece is meticulously crafted with intricate attention to detail.
After
Each seam is stitched twice, and every bag is checked against a 12-point list before it ships.
The fix
Swap it for the concrete thing. What does it do, in words a buyer can check?
Write this instead
- the step that shows the care
- a tolerance or a count
- careful (if you must)
What the checker matches
Any of these, in any case:
- meticulous
- meticulously
- intricate
- intricately