Accountemps recently published a survey of business executives' least favorite/most annoying phrases and buzzwords (plus I always thought "buzzword" itself is overused). Here are my top picks from this litany of lexicon losers:
- "Reach out" -- A synonym for making social contact with someone: "I'm glad you called. Thanks for reaching out." The first phrase is enough. I thought we retired this after AT&T's ubiquitous TV campaign beat this phrase into pabulum in the mid-1980s. But you know what I really hate about it? I've been duped into using this one myself, thanking people for contacting me through the social media (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn, et al) after they might have assumed that I passed away.
- "Disconnect" -- This noun, previously known as a verb, replaces the perfectly useful "disconnection," meaning two different interpretations. Such as, "I think you and I have a disconnect as to what was said at the meeting," when "You and I heard two different things today" would be more direct, although less politically correct in its directness.
- "Interface" -- Ah, an old favorite reappears, as unwelcome as ever. This was popular when IT terminology was polluting our language in the early 1980s. "You need that information, so please interface with Hal when you have a chance." Folks, computers interface; humans talk, discuss, meet... but we don't interface. Unless we turned into cyborgs along the way, and considering the technologies we attach to our heads, perhaps we have.
By the way, when "interface" is coupled with the once-popular, always-hackneyed, "touch base" (i.e., get together), it makes for a trite expression that actually rhymes: "Let's touch base and interface." - "It is what it is" -- Honest to God, I have heard this one for about 15 years, and I STILL can't figure out why people think this is at all expressive. I mean, this is just about the LAZIEST expression I can imagine. It sound like something you say when you have run out of words. A good friend of mine described his upcoming bout with prostate cancer, told me his options, and ended with, "Well, it is what it is." Such a meaningless phrase for such a potentially serious situation. An exasperated sigh would have spoken volumes in comparison. But at least I can imagine why he was speechless at that point. What else IS there to say? (By the way, he's healthy today.)
While we're at it, can we retire the term "solution?" As in, "I offer you linguistic solutions through my blog?" What happened to offering products? Or services? I knew this term had reached its zenith (nadir?) when I heard a local jeweler advertise himself as the "provider of your jewelry solutions."
To put this into some kind of perspective, linguists noticed a decline in the German language as Nazism was rising in that country. Can we draw a similar comparison between the quality of American business communication and the quality of American business competitiveness as well? As always, I'm interested in your thoughts on this. Please circle back to me and reach out with your own opinions on this game-changing post of mine. You can leverage the feedback feature of this blog and give me your own cutting-edge thoughts. At the end of the day, if we all think outside the box, we can find a language solution, and then we'll all be on the same page. Maybe my blog will be viral as a result. Now that would be value added.
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Hi, Pat -
ReplyDeleteSorry, but I have to disagree with your assertions that (even lame) cliches and "lazy" or ambiguous phrases are worthless. Truth is, language is not a static element of our, or any, society's culture. It is a languid, evolving, constantly morphing tool and also reflection of the people and events in it. I interpret, as one possibility, your resistance to changes in the language as resistance to change, itself - a trait which I don't ascribe to you in general, so i have to question it further. Why are you resistant to such changes? For example, of the use of "disconnect" as a noun? Is it because the from-childhood-learnings inside you react to it as wrong so the "right/wrong switch" gets activated and therefore the world needs correcting? I tend not to think that way of you, either, as a corrector. Is it because you don't want to see the changes in language as a reflection of changes in people's/kids' styles of communication because then business relationships and/or businesses might change? Do you distrust the next generation to run businesses? do you think our parents, and theirs, had similar fears and thoughts? Where I agree that it's almost embarassing that more people text with poor grammar and terrible syntax and horrendous spelling and may not be able to string several coherent sentences together, I hardly think that attacking the "pet phrases" like "it is what it is" speaks to those problems at all. Actually, "it is what it is" is not a lazy expression, it is a concise way to speak to the acceptance of either an existing or inevtiable circumstance. "There's nothing to be done about that... it is what it is... one must accept the situation..." I use that phrase sparingly, myself, because it's trite, but not lazy or unexpressive.
Let's discuss this further over a bottle of wine and a good meal ! :-) with song, if necessary ;-P
cheers,
~ mdf ~
Hi, MDF
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, thanks for taking the time to read my post and comment on it. That is always gratifying to me. I'll respond to some of the points you made.
I understand that language is not static and reflects its times. New words come into our vocabulary all the time, and I find that exciting. (One fun exercise is to watch movies set in prior periods and catch the words that are used incorrectly because they did not even exist in the time period of the film. For example, in "Dances with Wolves," Kevin Costner's character tells how his bravery at the beginning of the story made him a celebrity. However, the word "celebrity" did not exist around the time of the Civil War. I wish it had, as I think it is an exciting, expressive word. Same as the word "dynamic," which is packed with power, but did not exist until the creation of power generating equipment.)
No, I am not opposed to the evolution of language. I am not opposed to changes in language either, as you suggest. However, I am opposed to BAD language -- imprecise or overused language -- as illustrated in this article. I am especially chagrined to hear the same tired expressions all the time because it a. wears on me, like seeing the same TV shows over and over and b. often doesn't inform me, and c. usually shows a lcak of imagination.
I meant for this post to be fun, at least in part, and if it didn't come through, I apologize. I actually find these analyses of trite language as satirical. Go back to the great 1960 Billy Wilder film, "The Apartment," and you will see how Wilder, as screenwriter, skewers the corporate lingo of the time (for example, the tendency to make a verb of every word through the suffix "-ize"). That film is nearly 50 years old, yet in many ways it is just as relevant today for its send-up of the hypoocrisy of American corporate culture. Plus, Wilder had an outsider's view, as he was German-born.
MDF, your inference that I see language as a sign of my distrust of the upcoming generation of business leaders is a real leap. First of all, I don't believe that the people who use these phrases tend NOT to be the younger ones. I see members of the Boomer generation overusing these phrases. (Also I don't connect the shortcuts of texting with business communication. I think those are wholly separate.) Actually, I think younger professionals are communicating very clearly compared to their elders. And I certainly trust the next generation's values and their ability to run our businesses more than those of my own generation. But I won't get started on the failings of my peers in business. That's a whole different set of posts, and I'll bet we can find common ground there!
The best part of your message is the suggestion to discuss this over a loaf of bread, a bottle of wine, and a good meal. As is often the case, I suspect that you'll find we're a lot closer than you think. And a song is good, too. May I suggest we duet on the Harry Nillsen song?
"Everybody's talking at me...
Cant hear a thing they're saying...
Only the echoes of my mind.:
;-) back at you.
Again, thanks for the thought-provoking response.
Pat
I went to write you a comment yesterday and add the nonprofit sector's use of 'engage' to the list ... and ended up with a whole post of my own. http://bit.ly/tcsmh
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm equally passionate on the subject. ;)
The purpose of business communication, unfortunately, as as much to avoid communicating as it is to actually communicate.
ReplyDeleteMarshall Rosenberg, in his book 'Nonviolent Communication' gives us the example of Amtsprache, the German mode of bureaucratic thinking that made it possible for ordinary Germans to just "do their jobs", even when this meant doing things that were morally reprehensible.
Therefore, so long as there are people who just want to get to 5 pm without thinking, we will be stuck with phrases like "at the end of the day".
Holy crap, this is way to deep for a rain filled Friday morning. I offer this solution:
ReplyDeleteWe all need to reach out and interface so as to prevent any furhter disconnection with the idiosyncratic lexicon of our future generations.
Your's in linguistic perfection,
Kevin