Buzzwords in Business

Buzzwords I hope to never hear again.

There are a zillion terms used in business that are words or phrases that have become popular beyond their original intended use. People adapt them when they wish to emulate someone they admire or appear as intelligent as the company CEO. Or they simply become easy terms to use when one can’t put together an intelligent, well thought-through sentence. An example, “at the end of the day.”  It simply means in conclusion or when it’s all over and completed, what is relevant. But it’s these phrases that start to drive me crazy. When I hear meaningless jargon bandied about in conversation, presentations, reports, meetings, or when someone is trying to make a point, I tend to take the speaker less seriously.

Many of these words seem to have become the “you know” phrase of the 2000s: filler words when someone can’t think of the specific word they wish to say. Or a colleague wants to sound “in the know” or contemporary. Or they are words that get thrown out at professional conferences or in advertising so they are latched onto by large groups of people.  They are the words that make me cringe to hear.

Now, I’m seeing some of these words appearing in job postings. It makes me wonder if the HR person or hiring manager who wrote the particular job announcement even understands what he or she is saying (often I certainly don’t).

Can we perhaps consider these some of the worst words or phrases of the past decade, never to be brought up again?  I loathe these sayings. And I hope you never catch me saying them.

Jargon of the past decade:

•       Heavy lifting
•       My plate is full
•       Multitasking
•       Verticals
•       No brainer
•       Synergy
•       Facetime
•       Leverage
•      In the weeds
•       Under the bus
•       Thinking outside the box
•       Stand up meeting
•       Baked into
•       It’s on my radar (or often, it’s on my radar screen)
•       At the end of the day
•       Tee it up

 This is by no means a comprehensive list. These are simply the words that I find most annoying. What are your pet peeve expressions from the 2000s?