Words which fail to impress (i)

For the last couple of weeks we have been looking at words which, when used correctly, are rather impressive.

This week we do the opposite and look at some words which are not quite so impressive.

As the guys at Chambers Dictionary put it: “[Some words] are vague, clumsy, or even unnecessary, and serve only to leave your listener cold. ” Here are some of them…

actualize – to do
bandwidth – when used to mean ‘availability’: “What is your bandwidth like this week?”
best practice – the most appropriate way of doing something
branding – inventing a set of values to be associated with a consumer product
cascade – to disseminate from the top down: “Please cascade this information
through your teams.”

characterful – having character
chillax – chill, relax
competencies – abilities
deliverable – something that you are going to deliver: “A key deliverable is that all
teams and leaders have development plans.”
diarize – to arrange a date for something: “Let’s diarize a meeting.”
disincentivize – to take away the incentive from someone to do something

disintermediate – to lose the middle man
operationalize – to make operational
own – to have responsibility for (a project, etc)
paradigm – any set of methods, attitudes, etc
paradigm shift – any change in methods

performance indicator – a measure of success
pre-plan – to plan
pre-prepare – to prepare
proactive – using initiative
productionize – to put into production

realignment – attempting to change the way something is used
rebranding – inventing a new set of values to be associated with a consumer product
reposition – to change the way a company operates
repurpose – to alter the function of something

Yes some of those were pretty dreadful indeed. Of that set ‘chillax’ is the one I dislike the most.

Next week we will conclude our look at words which really don’t impress.

* All words in this blog post have been supplied by The 12^th edition of The Chambers Dictionary. ISBN 97805501002379

Tagged as: Words Wednesday