You can wear the perfect suit, have great posture, and put on a winning smile, but you’ll still make a lousy impression to your speaking and media audiences if you use wimpy words and phrases. The following are words that get speakers into trouble:

"It seems to me..." (obviously it seems that way to you, you are the one talking!)

"I believe..." (again, we can see it is you)

"I think..." (see above)

"A bit" (exactly how much is that?)

"Like" (unless you really do like someone)

"You know?" (no, I don’t know)

"You know what I mean?" (if you have to ask, then you weren’t too articulate, were you?)

"You see?" (see what?)

"More or less" (so which is it?)

"Really" (You Really need a new intensifier if this is all you can come up with!)

"Hopefully" (better to say "I want this to happen.")

"Pretty" (unless you are talking about someone who is good looking)

"Perhaps" (or perhaps not)

"Sort of" (sort of what?)

"Kind of" (this isn’t to kind)

"Maybe" (or maybe not)

"Fairly" (it’s not fair)

"Reasonably" (you don’t have reason)

"Quite" (speak loud)

"So" (so what)

"Rather" (I’d rather you not use this)

"Somewhat" (somewhat of what?)

"To some extent" (what to what extent?)

"To a certain extent" (same as above)

Do you have colleagues, friends or family who use more than their share of wimpy words and phrases? Then leave this column on their desk. (Hopefully, maybe, they will kind of, sort of, take the hint.)

Media Coach TJ Walker began media training in 1984 and is the media columnist for Investor Relations Magazine (www.irmag.com). He publishes the Media Training Worldwide e-zine, where this originally appeared. Sign up at http://www.mediatrainingworldwide.com