Buzzwords: Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down

[Foolmewunz]

Everyone's got their pet hates ("grow your business" was mine for ages), but do you actually employ them and if so, which ones do you actually like or use?

Like:

Viral Marketing - just love the image it creates in my fevered imagination
(I have no use for it in my business, though!)

Hate:
Push the Envelope - just what the H does it mean?
Seamless - so overused in my business

Use:
Think Outside the Box - lazy habit! I could just as easily say, "be creative".
Win Win - ditto above

Recently I've been forcing myself to use Think Outside the Envelope. It helps me to remember not to use trite expressions.

 

[jimbob]

"Blue sky thinkuing"

"Low hanging fruit"

The trouble is that sometimes there is a valid concept, being hidden by the jargon.


"open our kimonos"

sometimes not

 

[AgeGap]

I never thought I would post in the Business Skepticism part but I want to say I hate the word facilitate. I was once told to avoid the stupid buzzwords and this would facilitate clients understanding. Facilitate is a stupid buzzword. I remember when people were helped.
Also when some big boss refers to the minions as colleagues. I once saw a Tesco boss do this and now it has crept into the NHS.
Message to management...
"Where the hell are all you colleagues when it comes to cleaning up the blood and puke?"
And why do people with booklets refer to them as hard copies.
"Hear it, do not input any thought or common sense, repeat it." This will be our mantra.

 

[AgeGap]

Quote from blobru

authentic empowerment to commit to a personal stance both proactive and visionary in its entrepreneurial paradigm... "hey! you in the rayon tie and half-rolled up sleeves: go ***** yourself, ok?

 

[Foolmewunz]

"Blue sky thinkuing"

"Low hanging fruit"

The trouble is that sometimes there is a valid concept, being hidden by the jargon.


"open our kimonos"

sometimes not

Oooh! "Low Hanging Fruit"! I have a colleague who uses it constantly. It's a great image and brings the message home nicely, but she overworks it. She's also big on....

Mining for Opportunities

 

[Spindrift]

Not really a buzzword:
Give 110% effort.

I hate that. The most one can give is 100% of their effort.

So if you give 110% that just means you weren't giving 100% before or you got someone to help you out.

 

[Rob Lister]

Push the Envelope - just what the H does it mean?

I think [the use of] pushing the envelope dates back to attempting to surpass the speed of sound. Attempting anything right on the edge of the impossible.

The one I hate is Synergy.

 

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

I realize it's not really fair of me, but as soon as someone says going forward, my brain disconnects.

Also, thumbs down to everything ever stated in a corporate mission statement, vision statement, or the equivalent.

http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/games/career/bin/ms.cgi

~~ Paul

 

[MWare]

I don't mean to be overly contrarian here, but I often hear people complain about these business "buzz words" and I frankly don't understand why they bother people so much.

For example above, why does "going forward" bother you? I suppose there's many other things you could say "from now on", "from here on out", etc. What makes "going forward" so bad? I use it on occasion and it seems that people have understood me. That is the point of communication - and having several different ways to say the same thing helps make dialog and conversation interesting doesn't it? It doesn't seem to offend anyone, but if it does I don't understand why? Is it because it is "new"? Wasn't every expression new at some point? I mean just look at some of the buzzwords and pithy phrases Shakespeare invented. (some examples http://www.pathguy.com/shakeswo.htm). For example the phrase "Full circle". Kind of an interesting way to say "back to where you started". I like it, I use it. What's the problem? Would this have counted as an annoying "buzzword" in Shakespeare's day?

 

[HarryKeogh]

"sense of urgency" - blah!

 

[Ohmer]

Think Outside the Box - lazy habit! I could just as easily say, "be creative".

Sometimes thinking outside the box makes you rediscover why the box is there in the first place. The hard way. I like "be creative".

 

[HarryKeogh]

Sometimes thinking outside the box makes you rediscover why the box is there in the first place. The hard way. I like "be creative".

My cat thinks outside the box. Now he's crapping everywhere.

 

[KoihimeNakamura]

I have yet to run into buzzwords as a habit, as I am yet to exit college, but I was under the impression that most buzzwords are boilerplate..?

 

[Spindrift]

I don't mean to be overly contrarian here, but I often hear people complain about these business "buzz words" and I frankly don't understand why they bother people so much.

For example above, why does "going forward" bother you? I suppose there's many other things you could say "from now on", "from here on out", etc. What makes "going forward" so bad? I use it on occasion and it seems that people have understood me. That is the point of communication - and having several different ways to say the same thing helps make dialog and conversation interesting doesn't it? It doesn't seem to offend anyone, but if it does I don't understand why? Is it because it is "new"? Wasn't every expression new at some point? I mean just look at some of the buzzwords and pithy phrases Shakespeare invented. (some examples http://www.pathguy.com/shakeswo.htm). For example the phrase "Full circle". Kind of an interesting way to say "back to where you started". I like it, I use it. What's the problem? Would this have counted as an annoying "buzzword" in Shakespeare's day?

Buzzwords and buzzphrases tend to get grossly overused by some people so that the buzzwords become annoying. There is also the feeling I have that some people use buzzwords in order to look cool. "Look at me I don't say "I'm going to give me employees what they need to do their job", I'm going to "empower" them. Buzzwords are used like a secret code that only the really 'smart' people know about.

 

[Denial]

Not really a buzzword:
Give 110% effort.

I hate that. The most one can give is 100% of their effort.

So if you give 110% that just means you weren't giving 100% before or you got someone to help you out.

I totally agree with you there. It makes me cringe.

"Signaleffekt" (signal-effect) is a word often used by politicians and law enforcement personell here in Norway. The idea is that if you decriminalize or allow a certain behavior, or even loose up on some restrictions, everyone (almost always referring to youth, though) will start doing it in excess.

Examples:
We can't legalize marijuana, think of the signaleffekt.
Allowing liqour stores to be open longer gives our youth a signaleffekt that it's ok to drink more booze.

I generally find it a very bad idea to suggest that young adults can't think for themselves.

 

[Ohmer]

I don't mean to be overly contrarian here, but I often hear people complain about these business "buzz words" and I frankly don't understand why they bother people so much.

Buzzwords bother me when they are used in place of actual content. When a big mucky mucky says "We will empower our team members to create synergy among departments moving forward", that mucky muck has said exactly nothing. If buzzwords are use appropriately in conjunction with actual content, I don't mind them at all. For example, "We have implemented X to empower our team members to accomplish Y, which will create synergy among departments moving forward.

Context is everything.

 

[Foolmewunz]

Sees Opportunities, Not Problems

So overused. I have about half of my staff doing monitoring and DQ, and this old saw is in the annual review form. I always cheat on the scoring (putting into a neutral score) because I sure as Hell hope that when the fireman shows up to put out the fire he sees a problem. Problem = house on fire. Opportunity = marshmallow roast?

I got into a huge fight with the testing/assessing firm we use and our HR people over this.

 

[supercorgi]

My cat thinks outside the box. Now he's crapping everywhere.

LOL! Pithy!

 

[supercorgi]

Oooh! "Low Hanging Fruit"! I have a colleague who uses it constantly.[/B]

That's been used a lot around my workplace lately. I will always, and forever hate the word "synergy!"

 

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

For example above, why does "going forward" bother you? I suppose there's many other things you could say "from now on", "from here on out", etc. What makes "going forward" so bad? I use it on occasion and it seems that people have understood me.

There is nothing technically wrong with going forward. For some reason, though, for me, it is the epitome of unnecessary postmodern corporate-speak. A lot of these words sound like the sort of vocabulary a politician would use in order not to say anything.

Stop telling me to think outside the box synergistically so we can pick low-hanging fruit seamlessly going forward. Just tell me what the hell you want.

As Ohmer said.

~~ Paul