The 40 tells · Words · No. 07
Why "tapestry" makes writing sound machine-made
Flagged "Tapestry"
"A rich tapestry of" is one of the most recognised machine-writing tells. It shows up in travel copy, school essays and "about us" pages to mean "a mix".
Unless the page is about weaving, the word is decoration. Readers who spot it tend to stop trusting everything around it.
Before
The city offers a rich tapestry of cultures, flavours and experiences.
After
Within four blocks: a Vietnamese bakery, a Portuguese grill and a market that opens at 6 a.m.
The fix
Swap it for the concrete thing. What does it do, in words a buyer can check?
Write this instead
- a mix
- a range
- or list three real examples
What the checker matches
Any of these, in any case:
- tapestry
- tapestries