12 Days of GBA – Day 6: Taboo Words

Summary

Tiffany Vorhies and Ryan White present a year-end series highlighting their favorite GBA resources, counting down from Day 12 to Day 1. GBA's Taboo Words document gets its own spotlight because words in your report matter as much as the work itself. Tiffany shares how this resource shaped her writing since 2006. The eight risky words aren't "evil," but opposing counsel can broaden your intent in claims. Ryan and Tiffany deep-dive on "inspect" versus "observe," explaining how legal interpretation can imply authority you never accepted. The takeaway isn't to never use these words, but to choose deliberately and define scope clearly. Simple exercise: highlight these words in a report, rewrite two sentences, instantly level up your team's risk management.

Links

• Best Practices: Taboo Words

Taboo Words

• Certify


• Defend


• Determine


• Inspect


• Monitor


• Represent


• Safety


• Supervise

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This episode was produced by the following GBA Members:

• Tiffany Vorhies – Principal, Vice President/SME


• Ryan White, PE, GE – Principal Geotechnical Engineer/Apex Companies, LLC