Ad Hoc to Sine Qua Non: The Borrowed Phrases in Strategy Documents, Translated

Somewhere between the situation analysis and the media plan, marketing strategy documents develop a taste for Latin. Some borrowed phrases earn their keep by capturing ideas English handles awkwardly. Others are decorative — deployed to sound rigorous while muddying the message. Either way, if a term appears in a document that multiple stakeholders must act on, everyone needs to agree on what it means. Here are twelve that show up most often, decoded.

1. Status Quo

Plain English: the current state of things.

Correct usage: "The status quo allocates 80% of budget to paid search, which limits discovery among younger buyers."

Simpler alternative: "the current approach" or "where we are today."

2. De Facto

Plain English: existing in practice, even if not officially designated.

Correct usage: "Although no one was assigned the role, the senior analyst became the de facto owner of the dashboard."

Simpler alternative: "unofficial" or "in practice."

3. A Priori

Plain English: based on reasoning or assumptions made before looking at evidence.

Correct usage: "We had no a priori reason to expect lift among this segment; the data surprised us."

Simpler alternative: "in advance" or "before testing."

4. Sine Qua Non

Plain English: an absolutely essential condition.

Correct usage: "First-party consent is the sine qua non of our personalization roadmap."

Simpler alternative: "essential" or "non-negotiable."

5. Ad Hoc

Plain English: created for a specific, one-time purpose rather than as part of a routine.

Correct usage: "Reporting was ad hoc until Q2, when the team standardized a monthly cadence."

Simpler alternative: "one-off" or "as needed."

6. Per Se

Plain English: by its very nature; intrinsically.

Correct usage: "The channel isn't underperforming per se; the creative is simply mismatched to the audience."

Simpler alternative: "in itself."

7. Inter Alia

Plain English: among other things.

Correct usage: "The audit covered, inter alia, tag governance, consent management, and data retention."

Simpler alternative: "including" — or simply list the items.

8. Ceteris Paribus

Plain English: all else being equal; holding other variables constant.

Correct usage: "Ceteris paribus, a one-point lift in conversion rate adds roughly $2M in annual revenue."

Simpler alternative: "all else equal." This one is worth keeping in analytical contexts because it flags an assumption explicitly — but say it in English if your audience is mixed.

9. Prima Facie

Plain English: true on first appearance; accepted until proven otherwise.

Correct usage: "The attribution model's numbers are prima facie plausible, but we need a holdout test to confirm."

Simpler alternative: "at first glance."

10. Mutatis Mutandis

Plain English: with the necessary changes made; applying the same logic with the appropriate adjustments.

Correct usage: "The pilot's success criteria apply to the EMEA rollout, mutatis mutandis."

Simpler alternative: "with the necessary adjustments." This is the strongest candidate on the list for retirement — it is rarely understood outside legal and academic circles.

11. Vice Versa

Plain English: the reverse of what was just stated.

Correct usage: "Loyalty drives repeat purchase, and vice versa."

Simpler alternative: none needed — this one is fully absorbed into American English and universally understood.

12. Q.E.D. (Quod Erat Demonstrandum)

Plain English: "which was to be demonstrated" — traditionally written at the end of a mathematical proof.

Correct usage: honestly, almost none. When a slide ends with "Q.E.D." after three bar charts, the writer is claiming proof that survey data cannot deliver.

Simpler alternative: "This confirms our hypothesis" — or better yet, state the confidence level and what remains untested.

A Working Rule

Borrowed phrases are not the enemy. Ceteris paribus and a priori carry precision that earns their place in analytical writing. The test is simple: if a phrase would need a footnote for your audience, replace it. Strategy documents exist to align people, not to audition vocabulary. The clearest writer in the room usually wins the argument — and, more importantly, gets the plan executed correctly.