Wikipedia: Avoid "Peacock Terms"
Wikipedia defines
“peacock terms” as words
that sound nice but don’t
help the reader understand
the topic.
The male peacock uses his colorful tail to attract a mate. But the
weight and size of the feathers make it hard for him to fly.
Wikipedia: University of Greenwich
University of Greenwich Peacocks
(From Wikipedia: University of Greenwich)
These things sound nice but they don’t help the reader understand any new
information. After reading them, we still do not understand why the author wrote
these statements.
Examples of PeacockTerms :
Peacock term:
Adobe Photoshop is an amazing program, more
popular than all other graphics suites.
Better:
Adobe Photoshop is the most popular photo editing suite,
with 60% of the market share. Users prefer it over GIMP
because it includes features like built-in support for RAW
images and LAB colorspace workflow integrated into the
GUI.
Examples of Peacock Terms
Peacock term:
FPT University is one of the best software engineering
schools in Vietnam.
Better:
FPT University attracts hundreds of new students each
semester because it promises to teach every student the
skills required by major Vietnamese software companies so
that they can easily find good jobs after graduation.
About author
Hans Anderson
2007-Present: Lecturer at FPT Greenwich
Programmes, FPT University.
2007: M.S., Computational Mathematics,
University of Minnesota
2001: B.A., Computer Science, Gustavus
Adolphus College, Saint Peter, MN
. Wikipedia: Avoid " ;Peacock Terms& quot;
Wikipedia defines
peacock terms as words
that sound nice but don’t
help. not understand why the author wrote
these statements.
Examples of Peacock Terms :
Peacock term:
Adobe Photoshop is an amazing program, more
popular