This morning, I tweeted that I really need to petition for the death of the phrase “game-changing”. It’s so overused, and most often complete hyperbole.
We do that a lot in business, don’t we?
Personally, I wish for Brass Tack Language: choosing words that actually say what you mean, without over-inflated crud that perhaps creates a vocabulary-starved individual to rubberneck for a second, but does little else.
As businesses, we’d all be better served to practice saying what we do well in the simplest possible terms, skipping all the crazy modifiers like “best of breed” and just rather telling it like it is. There are plenty of perfectly workable words that can get it done. Wouldn’t that be refreshing?
Alas, I’m pretty sure I’m smoking something funky if I think that marketers (especially) and the business types are going to stop the madness anytime soon.
So, let’s have some fun on a Friday, and create the Buzzword Graveyard here on BTT for all those words, phrases, and jargon that we love to hate. Here are my entries:
Game-changing
Best of Breed
Blue Ocean
Win-Win
I  know you have more. Or perhaps you’d just like to sound off a bit on irritating language junk for a while? Let ’em loose. And happy Friday. 🙂
Magical, especially when used related to technology. Yeah Steve, you know what I'm talking about. It's all bits and bytes, nothing magical about that…
A few to add:
– Out of the box
– Paradigm Shift
– Future-proof (has there ever really been such a thing?)
Thanks,
Josh
A few to add:
– Out of the box
– Paradigm Shift
– Future-proof (has there ever really been such a thing?)
Thanks,
Josh
I'm really hating 'It is what it is' at the moment. A colleague keeps saying it in reference to projects, which makes it even worse as it sounds like we're jst accepting things and not fighting to do the right thing! Not quite a buzz word/phase, but needed to get that off my chest! Thanks Amber 😉
Drill down.
Epic.
Awesome.
Leverage.
Rockstar.
Anything-atti.
Bandwidth. Please. For the love of GOD … do away with BANDWIDTH.
Conflation- how can you con meaning negative, and flate meaning get bigger? It just doesn't make sense. Especially when it is supposed to mean to combine, which simpler and…well just better.
Oh, I am so in.
Going forward
Think outside the box
Push the envelope
Leverage
Bandwidth applied to scheduling
“Solutions” as a term for anything you can't find the right term for
Impact as a verb
“it's not rocket science”
ROI
“Content is king”
Transparency
“The comments on my post are better than my post!” (A uniquely social media conceit)
Yes! My adds:
Value added
Takeaways
Action items
I request the death of 'synergy', and any conjugation thereof.
“Be part of the conversation”
“Businesses need to be more human”
“Revolutionary”
“Fail Fast”
“Fail often”
Overarching
Circle back
Huddle up
OOF (how the deuce does that stand for “Out of Office”?!)
Automagically (or maybe we need to use that more. I can't decide)
Overused words? How about collaborate & crowdsourcing? Often used as license to profit singularly for the contributions of others. In fact, I have an article coming up on this very topic in the context of the corporate environment. I'll send you a link via Twitter when it publishes.
Great topic! This is a game I could play all day! 🙂
Curation – Congrats to the first person who pulled it out of Roget's, but it smacks of intentional smartitude now.
ROI – No one in finance uses “ROI.” It sounds like someone discussing “points” in baseball.
Back of the envelope – It's just another phrase for “half-assed,” right?
And I have to second “transparency.” When I see it I know the person complaining about its lack is saying “Hey! You didn't spoon-feed me the information and I was too lazy to do due diligence.”
Due diligence – Used by people wanting to appear smart.
Love the site. Keep up the good work.
“Check out”–As in “Check out our cool new ____.” I'm guilty of using this one, and I now hate it. There's just no way to package “check out” without sounding like the ShamWow guy or some other salesman you want nothing to do with.
I have a friend who wants the word “webinar” to die. He argues that everything is on the web now, anyways, so we should start making cutesy words that integrate web-speak.
“paradigm-shifting”. I work in PR, not an alternate universe. Innovative does just fine as an alternative!
Authenticity–especially since we use it incorrectly MOST of the time.
I love how we threw all these words at the wall just to see what sticks.
What a revolutionary idea, you're harnassing the wisdom of the crowds using social media and web 2.0 technology to show us just how far we've come in this digital age of communication.
#1 hated word right now: social.
Let's follow up offline. In the meantime, can you socialize that content around?
“Content” in general. like “I just built a website and i need a pound of content to fill my pretty CSS boxes!”
A few more to add.
– ladder up
– viral
– reach out
– ping me
– on brief
Amber, You've said what so many of us are thinking. My most hated have been noted, but are worth repeating:
Bandwidth
Ping Me
Both drive me nuts. Happy Friday! Thanks for helping us all vent.
System, as in filing system, monitoring system, profitmaking system, ad nauseum
Paradigm Shift!!!!!!!!! OH YEA!!!! That one for sure needs to go away.
Guru Guru Guru Guru Guru! (Oy!)
Aaaaaand, I'm spent.
You guys are taking away everything I learned in Business School! What else do we MBAs really know other than some buzzwords and formulas? 🙂
I have a few:
-Guru
-Expert
-Buzz
-Beta
-Iphone
The list could go on I am sure. Great topic.
Matt
I half-jokingly wrote a blog post about this very thing.
In the end, I just find it weird that that we use euphemisms when we can just say what we mean. I realize that it is just part of language as a whole… it just seems a lot more rabid at work.
Anyway, “low hanging fruit” needs to go. Like right now.
Content is King!
Engage in the conversation.
Status update
My candidates:
Anything “moving the needle.” Which needle? Why does the needle need to move?
Right Size. Just say you are firing people and be a (wo)man about it!
The Box: Inside, outside, thinking outside of it..did anyone ask the box what it thinks?
Game Changing: The game has never changed. The game is making money. Do you really want to change that?
Value Added. How do you know you are adding value, when you don't even talk to the people perceiving the value?
Innovative. Your product/service isn't. Unless it's profiled on Fast Company. Then it's already passe.
Going viral. I don't mind viral as a description, but I hate it as a strategy. You can't “go viral”. It either happens, or it doesn't.
Authenticity/Transparency. I like the concepts, think they are where business SHOULD go, but too buzzwordy. How about just saying honest, real, trustworthy?
That's off the top of my head.
Not that i'm a fan of 'moving the needle' but the context for the reference is the needle on an audio VU meter, like this.
“at the end of the day”
“reach out” as a verb for outreach
“innovation” is so overused as to now be meaningless
and I don't know what “design thinking” means any more
Leverage= I am going to take your ideas and use them for my own benefit. RIP Leverage!
“at the end of the day”
“reach out” as a verb for outreach
“innovation” is so overused as to now be meaningless
and I don't know what “design thinking” means any more
Ping me- I love that. When “Information Superhighway” died, it should have taken “ping me” with it.
I'm going to go a little off topic and say that the use of these buzzwords are very irritating, but I get enjoyment from idiots using them in the wrong context and very discreetly correcting them. It's my little brain game.
That just 'how I roll' 🙂
Action.
It is not a verb.
No really, it isn't. And therefore an adjective like actionable is just as ridiculous.
Low hanging fruit drives me batrshit now too – and I've been guilty of it in the past.
Seems to me what most of these come down to is trying to sound cooler or smarter instead of building a reputation for clear communication, which is a helluva lot more valuable to me.
Actually, in this case “con” means “with” and it is a real word that means what it says. But you're right – much more effective to just use your word combine.
In my experience, “content is king” translates to ” we have absolutely no strategy here so were just gonna shove as much at the users/clients as possible and hope something works.”
“Quality contextually valid content is king” might be closer to reality, but it just doesn't seem to have the buzzwordy panache to it.
Paul
Can't believe this isn't in here yet “touch base” or worse “touching bases.” Yeowww. Gives me the heebie jeebies.
Love the one about future-proof 🙂
Can't believe this isn't in here yet “touch base” or worse “touching bases.” Yeowww. Gives me the heebie jeebies. Love the one about future-proof 🙂
Sorry, I burped.
World-Class
World-Class
LOVE this thread! Trying not to duplicate…
at the end of the day
take it offline
“The New Standard…”. We have a running joke about that one here.
Ideation. Ugh.
Transparent
Authentic
Engaging
Ugh.
If you have to actually USE the words, you ain't it.
“Synergy”: Burn it with fire
Take this Offline
Wrap your head around
Bandwidth
Couch
On the same page
Guru/Ninja/Dragon Slayer
“The New Standard…” We have a running joke about that one here!
Fun topic! I'm sick of:
cutting edge
and a bunch more that were already mentioned
+1 for Rockstar
Hot Startup
Oh man…. so many I could think of if I took some time. Some ones that should be buried ESPECIALLY deep:
– Bandwidth (“I just don't have the bandwidth right now”)
– Deep dive/deeper dive
– Circle back
– ROI
– Rock star (Especially in reference to social media — same for “maven”, “guru” and “expert” — like nails on a chalkboard!) IMHO, if you're REALLY any of these things, no one should be going out of his or her way to explain it.
– “Hive mind”
– Low-hanging fruit — gah!
Thanks Amber for another great post! You have my gears turning…
– Jenny
“Over-arching”. Never did like that one, Just sounds like it hurts.
“Sea-change” is particularly annoying…
I've always used “content is king” to denote quality, as in: “The better your content is the more readers and advertisers you will attract. Content is king.” Never really knew that anyone used the phrase in any other context, such as volume. That doesn't make sense to me, because if all you do is churn out words/pics/videos it's likely your quality will suffer.
This stream of comments wouldn't be complete without one of my favorite 30 Rock moments, the “best presentation ever”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHt7z9Hx_Bs
I”ll go with “bleeding edge solution” and, with apologizes to Mr. Jobs, the annoying habit of calling things “revolutionary” when they clearly aren't.
When someone says, “ping me” I imagine picking up a golf club and bopping them on the head. (For the non-golfers, as in Ping golf clubs.)
» New & Improved – Be original people
» Starbucks (the company is killing good coffee. If you go to SBucks, try a local shop instead…they're usually cheaper and have better service and drinks, after all, they have to)
» Going Viral – People talk of going viral without regard to preserving their values…if you go viral on something that has nothing to do with your company, that doesn't actually promote your business, what's the point?
» Misused abbreviations and initials…if you don't know what MU (Multi User CMS) stands for in the first place, don't try to make it into a verb (e.g. We MU'd the WordPress powering weselltoast.com so you can add content too!
Haha I'm not angry…my tone says otherwise, but I'm smiling as I write this ;P
“Scale/scaling/scalability” Please make it go away.
This is a big pet-peeve of mine (hey, should we add “pet-peeve” to the list?) I am tired of the over-used cliches. My personal least favorite is one I find myself even saying, “Rock Star.” I am so over it that I blogged about it over on Audacious Ink a few months back. Billy Joe Armstrong is a Rock Star. Bruce Springsteen is a Rock Star. Bono? Rock star. Leave the rocking to the rockers, and let the professional “stand-outs” in their respective industry be called what they really are, whether it is “leaders,” “successes,” “experts,” or heck, even “professionals.” Whew. Glad that is off my chest, again.
One thing that definitely has to go? Referring to a problem as a “challenge”. I can appreciate the willingness to not look at something in a negative light, but damnit, sometimes a problem IS a problem.
Using “global” has to go, i.e. “global leader”. Twist the stats enough and everyone is a global leader in something.
Finally, “optimize” has to die a fiery, grizzly death.
Forward thinking, robust, wrapped around the the axel, in your wheelhouse are all pet peeves of mine. Thanks for the post.
How is it that in 62 comments no one has mentioned my personal pet peeve?
Incentivize.
Just typing it makes me feel sick. This week I created a Brand Guide for a client in which I wrote “No need to use $5 words when 1¢ words will do.”
paradigm shift, Out of the Box Thinking, 365_24_7, LOL and what about Free, New, Improved, Sale, Discount, … Okay maybe that last ones miss the criteria but just think of the havoc outlawing these words would have on marketing. Customers the world over would sigh in relief.
Strategize.
Optimize.
Leverage.
Idealize.
Impact.
Silos.
Cross pollinate.
Spearhead a dynamic initiative to leverage the existing capabilities to generate synergy!
Unique – when used by marketing to describe the product because it usually is not.
Rock star – unless you are Brett Michaels.
In reality – for obvious reasons.
At the end of the day – what about mornings and afternoon?
For a limited time only – because the end date is unknown becuase they have no idea what to expect.
Special – becuase none of the other services or products are?
Anything with the numbers 2.0 stuck on it's ass end.
The leading provider of…
Worldclass
Innovative
Cutting edge
Robust
Join the conversation
Relevant
I'm tired of brands or businesses that ask me to “Share your ____ with us.” I may 'engage' with you if you ask me in an interesting way, but if you really want me to tell you my experience, find a more creative way to ask me for it, that the overused “share your…”, please?!
Take it to the next level.
There are so many, here are two that make my skin crawl every time I hear them:
“Thrown under the bus” and “out of the box.”
“ROI” is pretty annoying as is “value added” or adding. “Authentic” is generally used improperly and can be a give away of a liar. “Networking” gets really old. I know many hate awesome, but I use it so much I can't put it on my list.
Great post, I am annoyed and laughing at the same time!
Coming from someone whose company is called Outside the Box Marketing (named over 12 years ago), I agree that “outside the box” is overused.. as is dialogue, engaged, optimize, agile (regarding software), state-of-the-art, capitalize, innovative, visionary….
Check out this tool from HubSpot. It's an industry-leading, game changer that at the end of the day will create an epic paradigm shift that will future-proof your writing.
Freeing you to push the envelope, get more leverage out of your writing and become the marketing rock star you were born to be.
http://gobbledygook.grader.com/
I've never heard of Blue Ocean, except when someone is talking about the ocean and how blue it is.
I've been out of the corporate world for a while now and this one might have been put to rest a long time ago but if it hasn't it should be…” I can't speak to that” … that was like fingernails on the chalk board for me.
jump the shark
brass tacks (oh, wait. never mind)
Even worse, for me, is the latest version, “incent.”
Noooooo. Awesome is one of my 4 favorite words! http://socialbutterflyguy.com/2009/10/01/does-l… – keeps me living in the 80's. Ha ha.
DJ Waldow
@djwaldow
T – I knew I loved you for a reason. That was my word to KILL.
DJ Waldow
@djwaldow
Amber –
Would be cool to put this entire list into a google spreadsheet. After reading through yours and the 70+ comments, I'm not sure there are any words we can actually use! Love it…
DJ Waldow
@djwaldow
That's a pseudo-biblical reference, so good luck removing it.
Exodus 3:14 – “God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM (hayah) has sent me to you.'”
If you do away with transparency, what do you replace it with, Meg?
You want to kill the iphone. Interesting.
How is a couch overused and not a chair and bed?
It is intriguing nobody wrote “social media” as an overused buzzword.
yeah I was going to post “curation” too. But I want to restore “win-win”, because you really don't have a deal *unless* both parties *genuinely* win.
How about “social graph”, “interest graph”, “degrees of separation” and all the other mathematics terms that actually have real mathematical meaning but are used by people without the remotest idea what they mean?
On that note, just about all the “Twitter grader scores” that attempt to rank people by how “important” / “influential” they are.
Oh, and while we're at it – people whining about “email overload”. If your email inbox has anything in it except spam, it's something *you* freakin' asked for!
So as much as I'm in agreement with just about every term referenced here, how many of us can safely say we don't use at least a few of these every now and then at work? Sure, we hate ourselves a little every time we do it, but there's something about spewing BS vernacular that, like it or not, ensures others that we're on the same page and in the same industry, and that we sound like we know what we're talking about – whether that's true or not. I think it's about establishing comfort. We're so silly, us humans.
I don't know that it's about comfort so much as it is a misguided attempt to achieve “rapport” by using the same words someone in authority uses. I once worked in a lab where everyone said “pro-cess” rather than “prah-cess” because that's the way the CEO pronounced it. 😉
Agreed. Also, after thinking about this a little more, I think we may even use these terms MORE when speaking to those outside of our industry, perhaps to assert our authority or depth of knowledge in marketing/social media/business/whatever the hell else we're trying to do. Basically, I think it's important that we recognize our hypocrisy here. 😉
So many great suggestions here…what I find sad, is that many of these words or phrases conveyed meaning when introduced, but over time their overuse created a nauseous reaction, causing us to toss them into the Buzzword Graveyard. Sadder still, we then perceive a buzzword deficiency, and to fill the void, we find another cool term, and continue the cycle.
It's the older form of “green field” ideas, which can also die.
No doubt it's been said, but “Epic” “Ninja” “Rockstar” “Guru” “Social Media Expert” – all get my vote…
three more:
going forward
customer facing
customer intimacy
YES!!! All of these would be on my list!
“Take this Offline” is one of my hugest pet peeves. Especially when used in face-to-face conversation. I have heard it used in meetings and it just grates my nerves. Ugggh.
Scale and Leverage and any forms of those two words are just plain annoying.
Can we get rid of “managing expectations” now please? That one's been bugging me for a long time.
Love it. Let's kill off a few more.
Industry leader
Premier ____
Category leader
Recognized leader
Happy Friday
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor
President, Find New Customers
http://www.findnewcustomers.net
Skin in the game. Eew.
Opening new files. Does anyone even know what that means??
So many comments, so little time. I don't think anyone mentioned these old favorites:
Drink from the fire hose
Boiling the ocean
Low hanging fruit
Here's a phrase that was new to me…”Is the juice worth the squeeze?” It has great future irritation potential.
Holistic.
It's nothing but a BS mean-nothing fluff word. It needs to go away.