Dr Neil James is executive director of the Plain English Foundation and the author of Writing at Work.
2014 was a particularly bad year for corporate and political spin. Here are some of the worst words and phrases.
In contrast to the Treasurer's euphemistic spin of "making a contribution", the Opposition Leader's budget reply was full of flailing adjectives and personal attacks.
Bill Shorten was at his best when providing real-life examples of the budget's impact, and arguments of this kind are far more likely to translate into votes than extreme rhetoric.
If Labor can tone down the hyperbole and focus on the argument, it may truly find a voice worthy of applause at the ballot box.
The budget speech could have been open about the need to break promises, but instead it evaded the issue through soft euphemism and weasel words.
It contrasted strongly with the aggressive language the Government used in the lead-up to the last election, and ditched many of the usual attack verbs.
So the Budget instead offers a limp language that contrasts clearly with the tough measures it is actually introducing.
Six months into an Abbott Government, what does his language foretell about our future climate? If his verbs are anything to go by, there'll be plenty of negative action ahead.
From the moment he became opposition leader, there have been three hallmarks of the Abbott style: attack language, verbal blunder and strategic silence.
And while Abbott might have more verbal clarity than his immediate predecessors, he too could find his language coming back to bite him if his stopping and scrapping doesn't actually deliver.