Briannguyen saying it's "way better than my usual confusing explanation" hits home. My buddy who does landscaping had a client who kept calling it "tree surgery" and getting all worried about the cost. Soon as he started saying "just needs a good haircut to stay healthy" she totally got it and stopped stressing. Sometimes the simple words just WORK better even if they're not technically perfect.
Wait, they said you were "giving the tree a haircut"? That's the most perfect way to put it, I'm honestly shocked I've never heard that before. It makes total sense to people who don't know the word "pruning." I'm stealing that line for sure, it's way better than my usual confusing explanation.
Actually that phrasing kind of bothers me. It makes it sound like a simple beauty treatment, not real tree care. People might not take the work seriously.