Banned Words
September 4th, 2008
So, we here at Brains on Fire have words that we have deemed unnecessary…or just out and out dumb. From our Tequila Shots book: “There is nothing wrong in simple. We don’t use a 10 dollar word when a 5 cent word will do. We don’t make up fancy names for our work or processes in an effort to make it more unique.” To that effort, asked a bunch of folks what their banned words are…via Twitter, here were some responses:
@slantsix - “call to action”
@simonashton - “monetize & synergy”
@quickenloans - “priority”
@sketchbookb - “synergy & synergistically”
@amyharle - “ leverage, granularity, well-positioned, drill down, empower”
@FluentNetworks - “brainstorm, innovate, next generation, tipping point”
@thinkhammer - “Impactful” (amen, brother…the actual definition for the verb “impact” is gross and icky)
@rundle - “game-changing & at the end of the day”
@gravelpup - “rockstar & ninja”
See. Lots of folks are passionate about this. See, the old trend of business consulting books coming up with these fancy new processes is a little outdated. Okay, it’s tired. Just say what you mean. We use the words identity, relationship, people, inspire…because those are the things we believe in. We believe in sustaining relationships, not “humanizing the transaction”. If we want to talk with a client or customer, we say we are communicating with them, not “harvesting feedback”. You get the point. What are some of the words you’re tired of hearing? Go ahead, bring it on.
Other posts by Steve.
Khurt says:
I hate it on home renovation or design shows when people keep referring to a room as “this space”.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:30 amKyle says:
*spearhead
September 4th, 2008 at 9:37 am*out of pocket
*scalability
BIG Kahuna says:
Word of mouth marketing and
September 4th, 2008 at 10:05 amMovements
jim says:
I hate the words “viral” and “virus”. Come up with replacements, please!
September 4th, 2008 at 10:34 amJeff says:
“silos”
September 4th, 2008 at 10:36 am“drop back and punt”
“moving forward”
“scalable”
“lay of the land”
“managing expectations”
and a weather related one…
“hunker down”
kristin says:
“throw the baby out with the bath water”
September 4th, 2008 at 11:23 am“from a perspective”
“escallate”
referring to meetings as “parties” and cubes as “my/your house” are also gross. gah.
Jason B. says:
First one to come to my mind? “Guru”. It’s right up there with “Rock Star”.
September 4th, 2008 at 11:25 amMatt says:
I am sick of “branding”… Every company in the world claims to do branding now and I swear half of them don’t understand what that means!
September 4th, 2008 at 12:39 pmRobbin says:
ON THE SAME PAGE. Shoot me if I say that. Ever. I know it’s not fancy. But I can’t stand it.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:13 pmJael says:
Operationalize! One of our managers finds a way to use that in every meeting.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:14 pmMr. Steve says:
Okay, so all this is brilliant! Much obliged to all of you. I’m kinda tired of all the words that used to be good, but have been hijacked. Like Insight. It’s a great word. It’s MUCH more descriptive of what we do than “research”. BUT, every company that looks through the microfilm room at the library says they do “insight”. Malarkey.
September 5th, 2008 at 5:42 amAnd anything “2.0″. See, Web 2.0 was a great moniker at first…but it’s been hijacked. Now it’s for anything that’s the “next thing”. But can’t we just assume that innovation is going to happen, and we can stop using the Microsoft model that new wallpaper means new name?
Thanks all…keep ‘em comin’.
ashley says:
“outside the box”…as in…thinking, getting, stepping, jumping…
September 5th, 2008 at 8:13 amJenny says:
since i had to avoid using them when writing, i kind of have an aversion to cliche phrases of any kind. our professor gave us a list of them that was several pages long.
September 5th, 2008 at 8:15 amRamsey says:
Okay, I hate to use our own blog to call ourselves out - but I cannot resist - this post says that we don’t use ten dollar words when a five cent word will do. Well, I keep hearing a word around here that just drives me batty - I think it is plum silly. I heard it again just this morning. Twice in the same meeting - here goes… BANDWIDTH as in “well, he just doesn’t have the BANDWIDTH right now” or “Let Joe do it, he’s got lots of BANDWIDTH today.” Sorry, but talk about a ten dollar word when a five cent one would be just fine! Sorry to bust us - but hey “I just had a little TIME.”
BANDWIDTH - I’m banning that one - unless your talking DSL or T3s.
September 8th, 2008 at 10:24 amolivier Blanchard says:
This post and its brilliant comments bring a tear to my eye.
Kahuna, come on man.
September 12th, 2008 at 8:12 amMeghan says:
credentialize
September 15th, 2008 at 12:49 pmstraw dog
service as a verb — We have to service our clients better — what exactly are we doing for them, hmmmm?
fundamentally (for Julie J)
Peter Korchnak says:
- visioning
September 15th, 2008 at 3:50 pm- marketing) guru
- movement
- synergy
Deborah says:
QUALITY.
Overused and doesn’t tell me anything. Thanks for the topic, Steve. I kept the convo going over on my site with a new exercise for coming up with better words: http://tinyurl.com/5urytl
Deborah
September 16th, 2008 at 3:34 am