You're staring at the cursor. It’s blinking. It feels like it’s judging you. You just finished a heavy sentence, and now you need to explain it because, well, the first part was a bit of a mess. So you reach for it. That clunky, reliable, soul-crushing phrase: because in other words.
Stop. Just for a second.
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We’ve all been taught that more words equal more "academic" weight. It’s a lie we tell ourselves in college to hit word counts. In the real world—the world of blogs, emails, and actual human connection—stacking these transitions is like putting a hat on a hat. It's redundant. It's clunky. Honestly? It's kind of exhausting to read.
The Linguistic Glitch We All Ignore
Language is supposed to be fluid. When you use because in other words, you’re actually hitting the brakes and the gas at the exact same time. Think about it. "Because" implies a cause-and-effect relationship. It’s looking backward to explain why something happened. "In other words" is a pivot. It’s a rephrasing tool used to simplify a complex idea.
When you mash them together, you create a linguistic stutter. You are saying "The reason for this is, to say it differently..." It’s a mouthful. Most people use it because they are processing their thoughts in real-time. They write the "because" part, realize they haven't been clear enough, and then tack on "in other words" as a safety net.
But here’s the thing. Your reader doesn't need a safety net. They need clarity.
Why Brains Hate Clunky Transitions
Cognitive load is a real thing. Dr. John Sweller, an educational psychologist, has spent decades studying how much information our working memory can handle. When you clutter a sentence with unnecessary transition phrases, you’re forcing the reader’s brain to process the structure of the sentence rather than the meaning of the words.
If I tell you, "The stock market crashed because, in other words, people got scared," I've wasted your time. If I say, "The stock market crashed because investor panic hit a breaking point," I’ve given you a visual. I’ve given you a reason.
The first version feels like a corporate memo. The second feels like a story.
We see this a lot in legal writing and academic papers. Researchers at MIT and Princeton actually found that using unnecessarily complex language makes the author appear less intelligent to the reader. It’s called the "Complexity-Proportionality" effect. Basically, if you can’t explain it simply, people assume you don’t get it yourself.
Spotting the Habit in the Wild
You’ll find this phrase lurking in the darkest corners of LinkedIn "thought leadership" posts and mid-tier marketing copy. It’s a symptom of "First Draft Energy."
Example from a real (bad) business email:
"We need to pivot our Q4 strategy because in other words, the current funnel isn't converting."
See what happened there? The writer was afraid to just say the funnel sucks. They used the transition as a cushion. If you remove the fluff, you get: "The current funnel isn't converting, so we’re pivoting our Q4 strategy."
It’s punchier. It’s faster. It’s better.
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The Two Types of Writers Who Use This
- The Hedger: This person is afraid of being too blunt. They use extra words to soften the blow of a direct statement.
- The Filler: This writer is trying to sound more formal than they actually are. They think "because in other words" sounds like something a professor would say. (Spoiler: It isn't).
How to Kill the Phrase Without Losing the Meaning
You don't have to sacrifice your nuance. You just have to choose a side. Are you explaining a cause, or are you simplifying a concept? You can’t do both in the same breath without looking messy.
If you want to explain WHY (The 'Because' Route):
Stick to the facts. Use "since," "as," or "due to." Or, better yet, just state the cause directly. Instead of saying "He failed because in other words he didn't study," just say "He failed because he never opened a book."
If you want to simplify (The 'In Other Words' Route):
Use a colon. It’s the most underrated punctuation mark in the English language. "The results were inconclusive: the data was a mess." That colon does the work of five words. It’s elegant. It’s sharp.
Other alternatives that don't make people's eyes bleed:
- Put simply...
- That is...
- Essentially...
- To put it another way... (Use this sparingly, it's also a bit long).
The Psychology of Simple Writing
There is a weird fear in professional writing that if we don't sound "smart," we won't be respected. But look at someone like Ernest Hemingway or, more recently, business writers like Seth Godin. Their sentences are short. They don't hide behind because in other words.
They trust their ideas.
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When you use filler phrases, you’re telling the reader you don’t trust them to get it the first time. You’re over-explaining. It’s the written equivalent of hovering over someone’s shoulder while they try to use a computer. It’s annoying.
Breaking the Loop
If you find yourself typing those words, stop. Delete them. Read the sentence before and the sentence after. Nine times out of ten, you can just merge them into one strong statement.
"The atmospheric pressure dropped because, in other words, a storm was coming."
Correction: "The storm arrived as the atmospheric pressure plummeted."
The second one has a verb that actually does something. "Plummeted" is a great word. "Because in other words" is a speed bump.
Actionable Steps for Better Flow
Start by doing a "Ctrl+F" on your latest document for the word "words" or "because." If they are sitting next to each other, you've got a problem.
- Audit your transitions. If a transition phrase is more than three words long, it’s probably a parasite. Cut it.
- Read it out loud. If you run out of breath before you get to the actual point of the sentence, the sentence is too long.
- Embrace the period. You don’t need to connect every single thought with a conjunction. Sometimes, a hard stop is the most powerful thing you can write.
- Use "So" instead. It's the "because in other words" killer. It's one syllable. It's conversational. It works.
Next time you’re tempted to use because in other words, just don’t. Write the raw, ugly version of the sentence first. Then, go back and strip away everything that isn't the truth. Your readers will thank you for not wasting their mental energy on linguistic gymnastics.
The most effective communication isn't about the words you add; it's about the ones you have the courage to leave out. Focus on the core message and let the clarity of your thought do the heavy lifting. You'll find that your writing becomes more persuasive, more professional, and infinitely more readable.