Last month’s United Airlines overbooking debacle and the subsequent PR disaster and brand implosion has me thinking of the value of communicating clearly. There’s much to be critical of in United’s behavior and initial poorly worded erstwhile apology. But what struck me most was its use of the word “reaccommodate.” As reported in Time magazine, Merriam-Webster noted that searches for “volunteer” jumped about 1,900 percent following the incident. But searches for the more rarely encountered “reaccommodate” spiked by 80,000 percent. Time speculated the word might become the Euphemism of the Year.
May 1, 2017 0 0 0Sign up for our free newsletter.