Anyone have a grease pencil? Strike these words and phrases, please
Every few years seems to give rise to a new set of buzzwords and phrases, many of which appear in business communications. Remember “downsizing?” How about “reorganization?” For a long time, workers were encouraged to “step up to the plate,” especially when it came to picking up the slack for their former co-workers who had been “downsized.” They got fired, but heaven forbid if anyone actually said that.
I wonder who invents these things. They slip into our daily vocabulary and become so overused, that they often eventually fall out of favor. Unfortunately, some also stick around for years. I’d like to share some of my new and old pet peeves. No one will be the worse for wear if we ban these:
1. Impact. This has to be the most overused and incorrectly used word – ever. Despite what everyone seems to think, impact is not – I repeat, not – equivalent to the word “effect.” Impact isn’t a verb unless it’s used in a collision reference, as in two cars or asteroids striking each other. You can have an impact on something, but you cannot impact something. In other words, a budget cut does not impact your company. A budget cut will have an impact on your company. Yes, dictionaries support impact as a verb, but dictionaries generally represent common usage as opposed to formal grammar.
2. Monetize. Astute readers will probably note that “monetize” is in the dictionary, but that doesn’t mean it’s OK to use this form of government-speak. It’s jargon. Please find another word.
3. Thought leadership. Companies like to use this today because it makes them sound smart, but the phrase is being used so much, it’s losing the wow factor. I admit I’m guilty of dropping this one into a recent Web site, but doesn’t it sound better than “case studies?”
4. Uniquely qualified. This is PR-speak and used to be in vogue among marketers. I don’t see it as often as I did in the recent past, but the phrase still shows up in brochures and other collateral. It’s one of those meaningless phrases that are meant to sound impressive, but come across as trite.
5. Forward thinking. Companies like to think of themselves as forward thinking, so they like to pepper their communications with this phrase. The phrase has been used so much, it’s lost a lot of its power.
6. Marketing tactics. Marketers use this when they’re talking about various marketing approaches and programs, such as social media, social networks, search engine optimization and blogging. I don’t like “tactics” because it sounds like something sneaky and underhanded. I prefer “marketing strategies.”
7. Cutesy, deliberately misspelled business names. It’s a mystery to me why businesses do this. Do they think names such as Kwik Kopy, Beadz ‘n More and Krispy Kreme are amusing? I don’t get it.
8. Revenues. More government-speak. I don’t care if you took in money from one source or multiple sources and whether you calculate the money for one year or several years – the correct usage is “revenue.”
What words and phrases are you tired of? Which ones would you like to ban?
