When OJ Simpson stood up at his arraignment in 1994 he didn't say "not guilty". He said "absolutely, 100 percent not guilty". Three extra words that mean nothing legally, because "not guilty" is a binary. You can't be more not guilty than not guilty. In this episode of How Words Work, Jack Fox breaks down why people add convincing language to their own statements when nobody has asked them to, why that hype always lands as weakness, and the one place where convincing language is genuinely useful. From OJ at his arraignment to your colleague in a meeting to the dating profile that protests too much, you'll learn how to spot the hype, what it's protecting, and how to remove it from your own speech so your words finally carry their own weight.

How Words Work is a weekly podcast with Jack Fox.

📩 Jack's weekly newsletter Credible lands every week with one idea you can use straight away. Sign up here: https://jack-fox.kit.com/dfc55f19a6

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In May 2024, CNN released hotel surveillance footage of Sean "Diddy" Combs assaulting his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura. Within 24 hours, Diddy posted a 70-second apology video to Instagram. He never said her name. Not once. In this episode of How Words Work, Jack Fox breaks down the four mechanical moves that turn an apology into a performance: erasing the victim, distancing the act, becoming the protagonist of your own redemption story, and piling on the convincing language. You'll hear exactly how Diddy did all four in less than 70 seconds, and you'll start to spot the same blueprint in workplace apologies, partner apologies, celebrity statements and crisis PR everywhere. By the end you'll know how to hear a real apology and how to give one.

How Words Work is a weekly podcast with Jack Fox.

📩 Jack's weekly newsletter Credible lands every week with one idea you can use straight away. Sign up here: https://jack-fox.kit.com/dfc55f19a6

Content note: this episode discusses domestic violence.

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I've spent years studying how language builds and destroys credibility. From criminal cases to everyday conversations, the patterns are always the same. But this week I came across something that stopped me in my tracks.

Not a criminal case. Not a courtroom cross examination. A thread on X from an appellate court judge who has read thousands of legal briefs and distilled what separates the ones that win from the ones that lose into a handful of principles so sharp and so clear that I had to share them.

His name is Judge David Weinzweig. His account is Zen and the Art of Persuasive Writing. And what he wrote for lawyers applies to every single conversation, every email, every difficult discussion you will ever have.

Brevity signals confidence. Adverbs can destroy the arguments they're meant to strengthen. Zombie nouns drain the life from your words. And the best communicators answer the question before the other person knows to ask it.

In this episode of How Words Work with Jack Fox, Jack reads the thread, breaks down each principle and shows you exactly how it sounds in real life.

The thread: https://x.com/zenpersuasion/status/2052003677708468285

The book: https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Persuasive-Writing-David-Weinzweig/dp/163905779X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0

🎙️ How Words Work with Jack Fox. 📩 Jack's weekly newsletter Credible lands every week with one idea you can use straight away. Sign up here: https://jack-fox.kit.com/dfc55f19a6

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I've spent years studying how people communicate under pressure. And there is no pressure like being questioned under oath. Every evasion, every deflection, every moment of crumb throwing and safer ground and buying time is amplified and exposed in a way that ordinary conversation never quite manages.

In this episode of How Words Work with Jack Fox, Jack takes everything the series has covered and shows it happening in real time. The cross examination of Mila Adams in the Stefon Diggs assault case is one of the most instructive pieces of communication under pressure you will ever hear. Not because she lied. But because the patterns in her words, the evasions, the avoidance, the crumb throwing, the failure to answer simple yes or no questions, did something very specific to her credibility. Something the jury heard. Something you're going to hear too.

Diggs was found not guilty. This episode is not about what happened between them. It's about what her words did to her credibility on the stand. And what you can learn from it.

🎙️ How Words Work with Jack Fox. 📩 Jack's weekly newsletter Credible lands every week with one idea you can use straight away. Sign up here: https://jack-fox.kit.com/dfc55f19a6

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I've spent years studying the words of murderers, fraudsters, manipulators and coercive controllers. And one thing shows up in almost every single case. The people who are hiding something use more words than they need to. Not fewer. More.

Because when you have the truth on your side you don't need to build a case for it. You just say it. But when you don't, you reach for every persuader, every emotional maximiser, every convincer you can find. And the result is a performance that looks like honesty and sounds like honesty but leaves something uneasy in the person hearing it.

In this episode of How Words Work with Jack Fox, Jack breaks down the language of persuasion. How Erin Patterson, convicted of murdering three people with poisoned mushrooms, used words like devastated, loved, fathom and absolutely in a performance of grief designed to convince you of something she needed you to believe. How the same tactics show up in everyday conversations when someone builds an architecture of busyness to avoid answering a simple question. And why the most trustworthy thing you can ever do in any conversation is say less.

This is the episode that ties the whole series together. Because the antidote to everything we've covered in these eight weeks is the same thing. Economy of language. Own it, say it, stop.

🎙️ How Words Work with Jack Fox. 📩 Jack's weekly newsletter Credible lands every week with one idea you can use straight away. Sign up here: https://jack-fox.kit.com/dfc55f19a6

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When someone tells you the truth your mind builds a picture automatically. You don't think about it. You don't try. The picture just forms because the material is real. But there are conversations where the picture won't come. Where you're listening carefully and following along but nothing quite lands. Like trying to build something out of fog.

That feeling, that inability to picture what you're being told, is one of the most reliable signals your brain sends you that something isn't right.

In this episode of How Words Work with Jack Fox, Jack breaks down exactly why some stories form instantly and others never quite land. From the Vrabel and Russini statements that describe a situation without ever showing you what actually happened, to the dating conversation that tells you everything about someone's personality without giving you a single real detail to hold onto. And the alibi that Chris Watts gave that told us what didn't happen, not what did.

Jack also shows you how to make sure your own words always build a picture. Because the most credible people in any room speak in specifics. And specifics are what trust is made of.

🎙️ How Words Work with Jack Fox. 📩 Jack's weekly newsletter Credible lands every week with one idea you can use straight away. Sign up here: https://jack-fox.kit.com/dfc55f19a6

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You came into that conversation with something you needed to say. You knew what it was. You were ready. And somewhere in the middle of it the conversation went somewhere else entirely. Someone moved it without you noticing until it was too late.

That's your agenda being taken from you.

In this episode of How Words Work with Jack Fox, Jack breaks down exactly how this happens. From Russell Brand's response to Piers Morgan's direct questions about his past, to the relationship conversation where a genuine concern about whose needs are being met gets buried under birthday trips and declarations of love. And the pay rise conversation where the number never got discussed because the boss had other plans for where the conversation was going.

But first Jack turns the mirror around. Because before you spot this in others you need to know how you do it yourself. When you're nervous, defensive or uncomfortable you redirect too. And the people around you feel it even when they can't name it.

🎙️ How Words Work with Jack Fox. 📩 Jack's weekly newsletter Credible lands every week with one idea you can use straight away. Sign up here: https://jack-fox.kit.com/dfc55f19a6

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You know the feeling. Someone answers your question and technically everything is fine. Words were said. The conversation moved on. But something in you didn't move on with it. You're still there. Still waiting. Like you've eaten a full meal but somehow you're still hungry.

That feeling is not paranoia. That feeling is information. Your brain picked up something your conscious mind hadn't caught yet. And in this episode of How Words Work with Jack Fox, Jack is going to show you exactly what it found.

From Blake Lively's powerful statement about digital violence that somehow leaves you knowing nothing about her personal experience of it, to the friend who answers every question with "just hung out, nothing much really." Jack breaks down the specific signals that tell you whether someone is genuinely meeting you in a conversation or just making sounds in your direction.

And just as importantly he shows you what a genuinely nourishing answer looks and sounds like. Because learning who to trust is as important as learning who not to.

🎙️ How Words Work with Jack Fox. 📩 Jack's weekly newsletter Credible lands every week with one idea you can use straight away. Sign up here: https://jack-fox.kit.com/dfc55f19a6

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