October 10, 2008Ask Meryl ~ Poison Phrase classification

Meryl,

In our English course — efficient professional communication, we chose ‘PowerPhrases! — the perfect words to say it right and get the results you want’ as the textbook. We were practicing summary skills by outlining the poison phrases from chapter 2. There are 9 types of poison phrases. I applied the ‘grouping / clustering’ approach by classifying them into 3 categories: speaker side, listener side and both sides. However, we are curious about how you group these 9 types. The teacher suggested me send this email to you.

Could you respond?

Thanks for your question! What an interesting consideration!

Meryl Responds,

In PowerPhrases!, I list the poison phrases as: 1) Filler Poison Phrases, 2) Indecisive Poison Phrases, 3) Deflective Poison Phrases, 4) Negative Poison Phrases, 5) Absolute Poison Phrases, 6) Victim Poison Phrases, 7) Vague Hinting Poison Phrases, Emotional Poison Phrases and, 9) Passive Poison Phrases. With the exception of Absolute and Negative phrases, my lists emphasize the passive side, or words that make the speaker sound weak.

In How to Use PowerPhrases I divide them into “Respect-Robbing Poison Phrases” and “Vicious Venom Poison Phrases.” The second grouping focuses on words that are designed to disempower and over power the listener.

Vicious Venom PowerPhrases include: Labeling, Absolute, Negative, “Should,” Veiled Assumptions, and Blame.

Thanks again for your question.