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Topic: Business Jargon-Pet Peeves
| Author | Message |
| wareaglegal | Posted – 2/7/2008 10:27:48 AM | show profile Hi all! I just need to vent a bit. I work for an association as an editor and I keep seeing the same words again and again. These are some of the ones that get on my last nerve: ensure leverage interface (as in, "Have you and M. interfaced yet?" And, yes, an 'editor' asked me that recently!) vetted Your turn! |
| jcpatterson | Posted – 2/7/2008 11:06:43 AM | show profile "Incent," as a back-formed verb from "Incentive" Ditto on "leverage" from people who don't seem to know what a lever actually is. I'm fine with it if it is used to mean something along the lines of "use a tool to magnify force," referencing a lever as a metaphor. It grates when it is used to replace "use" in a sentence, such as "Let's leverage this word to complete this sentence." |
| ConfidentDesigner | Posted – 2/7/2008 11:30:53 AM | show profile "at the end of the day" vett (is that REALLY a word???) vis a vis best practices Bandwidth dial-in drill-down going forward low-hanging fruit (my personal favorite! I invision rotten mangoes festering from branches complete with gnats swarming around) win-win turn-key operation |
| Mirage | Posted – 2/7/2008 11:58:38 AM | show profile * build a better mousetrap * deliverable * facilitate * going forward * offline (as in, "Let's discuss this offline" [outside of this meeting) * one-off * on the same page * touch base |
| wareaglegal | Posted – 2/7/2008 12:05:52 PM | show profile Fun! I thought of a few more. I'm so glad there are others out there! sunsetted (as in, this pub is being sunsetted b/c it's not making money) siloed (so not a word!) top-down based approach what can you bring to the table key stakeholders benchmarking best practices |
| InsomniacNOT | Posted – 2/7/2008 12:12:45 PM | show profile verticals silos |
| foodlit | Posted – 2/7/2008 12:14:50 PM | show profile utilize drives me crazy...just say use already! granular, as in 'we need to 'get granular' on this' ugh..... |
| robbo | Posted – 2/7/2008 12:31:55 PM | show profile "It is what it is." "It's a nobrainer." And I don't like the phrase "Grow your business." |
| chucho | Posted – 2/7/2008 12:35:25 PM | show profile Yuck. All of these words make me ill. >> "Incent," as a back-formed verb from "Incentive" << I've also heard "incentivize" Ramp up Dialogue (as a verb) Core competencies Assets (in reference to people) Value added |
| Mag Girl | Posted – 2/7/2008 12:50:07 PM | show profile I hate just about all the ones you guys have mentioned- especially silos, value-added, low-hanging fruit and utilize. Anyone I encounter professionally who uses management-book-gobbledygook-speak with such phrases, I immediately lose respect for. I find that the use of such phrases is in negative correlation to the competence and intelligence of that person. |
| Mirage | Posted – 2/7/2008 1:01:02 PM | show profile "Grow your business" Ooh, that one actually makes me feel violent. |
| Jill of all trades | Posted – 2/7/2008 1:02:41 PM | show profile core values alignment engagement everything everyone's already said. I love the image of the rotten fruit. |
| lissa2k | Posted – 2/7/2008 1:19:43 PM | show profile Optics I've come across this one several times recently - the use of "optics" for "perspective" or "appearance," i.e., "The company's activities are legal, but management is concerned about the optics" or "I think this is good, but I'd like to get your optics." Drives me bananas. |
| keltoi2 | Posted – 2/7/2008 7:04:53 PM | show profile I have a co-worker who uses business buzzwords like oxygen. Among her favorites: --break it out --touch base --takeaway --download (as in people, not computers) --proactive --offline (as in people, not computers) |
| foodlit | Posted – 2/7/2008 9:10:02 PM | show profile takeaway is awful, used to hear that one all the time. Finally saw the movie Office Space for the first time...hysterical, and I really worked in an office like that almost all the buzzwords mentioned were used regularly Here's another hideous one 'open the kimono' |
| PublicityChick | Posted – 2/7/2008 9:45:13 PM | show profile ick i used to keep a list of words that were banned in my office. ladder up seed the pasture and see what grows leverage let's look at it from 10,000 feet run it up the flagpole vetted mediable marketable existing assets working session merchandise results what's on your plate T it up and bang it out optimize network |
| Astera | Posted – 2/7/2008 11:15:51 PM | show profile Here's one I really hate: "right-sizing" as a euphemism for company layoffs. It just seems disrespectful to the people getting laid off. And I really wish "RIF'd" would stop being used as a term for layoff--it's an acronym for "reduction in force," so it doesn't even make sense when people say, "Oh, yeah, that team got RIF'd." I also hate drilling down, digging deep and huddling up. I don't like to jump on or jump off calls. And I really hate trying to leverage our brand into the business space so that we can make sure we're 100 percent optimized, on both a concentrated and a distributed level. (I just had to interview one of our senior executives for a company newsletter, and she spoke in nothing but jargon. The sentence above is nearly a word-for-word quote!) ------ www.adventuresofastera.blogspot.com |
| Yam | Posted – 2/8/2008 12:45:15 AM | show profile "Ping me." This one's kind of tech-business specific, but when I was doing that kind of reporting a lot of my sources would end our calls by saying, "Well, if you have anymore questions, just ping me." Ick. |
| chucho | Posted – 2/8/2008 9:26:09 AM | show profile "Open the Kimono"? (shudder) The man (and it must be a man) who would says this wears cologne, hangs out in an Upper East Side sports bar and keeps roofies in his wallet. |
| wareaglegal | Posted – 2/8/2008 10:21:18 AM | show profile One more I can't believe I forgot the one that started it all: high-level overview (HLO) |
| writesonwater | Posted – 2/8/2008 10:23:45 AM | show profile | email poster Oh, these are all rich. I thought it was dead -- but in an interview, someone just tried to ressurect "paradigm shift." I won't be quoting that. I refuse. ------ http://writingporch.blogspot.com/ http://jlouiselarson.blogspot.com/ http://familyrootsandwings.blogspot.com/ |
| Mag Girl | Posted – 2/8/2008 10:40:50 AM | show profile uh, writesonwater- paradigm! I thought that one had died too. |
| caitlinkelly | Posted – 2/8/2008 12:15:15 PM | show profile "vetted" may be abhorrent, but it has a legitimate use within the high-end antiques world -- as in the dealers for major antiques shows/fairs are usually "vetted", and advertised as such, which means someone has looked over their wares to (one hopes) ensure they are not purporting to offer antiques when they are reproductions. (as opposed to "as is", "in the style of", etc. or "as found" when you buy at auction and it's all up to you to know what you're bidding on.) |
| travisjpetersen | Posted – 2/8/2008 1:19:57 PM | show profile coming down the pipeline ramp up (and variations: "the sales channel on the new product will push using a gradual ramp time") stand up "they are going to stand up the new product beginning of Q1" bandwidth (for people, not computers) Acronyms from hell: COB, EOD, EOW, OOO, etc. |
| HyancinthGirl | Posted – 2/8/2008 2:22:12 PM | show profile Thanks for the laugh! Constantly in this industry (in itself an overused word) is "incentivize." My number one, however, is the phrase "going green." |
