Today we conclude our look at words which really do not do the user any favors at all.
The ironic thing with this collection of words – taken mainly from the business community – is that they were designed to sound impressive and to make those using them sound knowledgeable.
Epic fail – as modern young people might say.
empower – to give individuals the power to take decisions in matters relating to themselves
eventize – to make an event of forward planning planning
functionality – the things a thing does
going forward – in future
granularity – level of detail
guesstimate – a rough guess
impact (verb) – to have an impact on
impactful – having impact
incentivize – to give, have or be given an incentive, especially to work more efficiently, productively, etc.
interface – to speak face to face: “He is anxious to interface with you.”
key driver – an important stimulus
minds-on – cerebral and educational (as opposed to hands-on, practical)
monetize – to make money from something: “How can we monetize our web content?”
retask – to give someone or something a different task
shared commitment – a joining together of two organizations for their benefit or profit
solutions – what businesses sell. eg: all your storage solutions
space – an industry; a field of activity: the semiconductor space
synergy – co-ordinated action
task (verb) – to give someone a particular task
traction – hold on a market, sympathy, etc: European winemakers are losing traction to competitors.
transition (verb) – to change
uptick – an increase
value proposition – a selling point
win-win – (supposedly) advantageous to both parties involved in something
Of these words I particularly dislike “going forward.” A human resources manager in a previous job I used to have used to say “going forward” in every other sentence. It used to annoy me so much but then again she was a particularly annoying individual.
Next week we will begin a two-part look into some weasel words.
* All words in this blog post have been supplied by The 12th edition of The Chambers Dictionary. ISBN 97805501002379
Hi Patrick,
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Wow! these are great odd words,I keep on visiting your site and copy all the odd words for me to use it nowadays, it seems great cause some of my friend don’t believe that these words really exist.
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