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The overused word of the century
The Bing Blog ^ | 9/3/08 | Stanley Bing

Posted on 09/05/2008 12:49:04 PM PDT by wbill

I was at a meeting yesterday, one of those painful presentations where a guy comes in, does twenty minutes of PowerPoint, and nearly turns his entire career to suet. That is neither here nor there. I mean, those things happen all the time. This time, it was Badnick’s turn.

What was interesting to me is that in the middle of the debacle, I heard a small snap. It was the sound of a straw breaking a camel’s back. During the meeting, I realized that a certain word has now been so overused, so over-extended, so bled of any meaning, freshness or appropriateness, that it must now be retired.

That word is Leverage.

I believe I first noticed its widespread acceptance perhaps twenty years ago...(snip)

(Excerpt) Read more at stanleybing.blogs.fortune.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: bingblog; stanleybing
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To: 668 - Neighbor of the Beast

we pay more attention than they earn.
***Hey, good writing. [insert something pithy here]


121 posted on 09/05/2008 1:54:24 PM PDT by Kevmo (Obama Birth Certificate is a Forgery. http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/certifigate/index?tab=articles)
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To: Semper911

Thanks. I added that to my wishlist on Amazon. Hopefully I haven’t committed any cliche sins in this post.


122 posted on 09/05/2008 1:56:18 PM PDT by Kevmo (Obama Birth Certificate is a Forgery. http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/certifigate/index?tab=articles)
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To: Kevmo
good writing

Homeschooled. :P

123 posted on 09/05/2008 1:56:52 PM PDT by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast (diogeneticistical...esque...ish...)
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To: Scarpetta
I nominate “vetted.”

I assume that the infinitive form of "vetting" is "to vet," which apparently means to investigate in a manner similar to the way a veterinarian would examinine a sick cat.

124 posted on 09/05/2008 1:57:23 PM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: ThomasThomas
It's overuse is not good.

125 posted on 09/05/2008 1:57:28 PM PDT by I see my hands (_8(|)
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To: MikeWUSAF
How about the people who say “pacificly” instead of “specifically”? That's the one that drives me nuts.
126 posted on 09/05/2008 1:58:14 PM PDT by Hoffer Rand (0bambi: the audacity of hype)
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To: Remember Ruby Ridge

In the Army people now say “orientate” instead of the proper “orient”...”We need to orientate the map”...ugh.


127 posted on 09/05/2008 1:58:40 PM PDT by Monterrosa-24 (...even more American than a French bikini and a Russian AK-47.)
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To: wbill
“Man, you know what I’d do if I was a millionaire?”

The funniest reply that I ever heard to that question was (by a dirty old man):

I would by an acre of boobies and walk in it barefoot.

128 posted on 09/05/2008 1:58:46 PM PDT by VRW Conspirator (In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy. - J. Paul Getty)
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To: wbill
ABSOLUTELY is the most over used word.

BOTTOM LINE is the most overused phrase

129 posted on 09/05/2008 2:02:15 PM PDT by Texas Songwriter
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To: CaliGirl-R
The phrase “Just sayin” is starting to get on my nerves.

You got that right ! I'm also getting tired of people prefacing everthing they say with "just so you know..." or "i just wanted you to know..."

130 posted on 09/05/2008 2:07:18 PM PDT by Mopp4
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To: Kevmo
I *did* use it. Back when I worked for a large, three letter technology-oriented company, and was dramatically unhappy and actively interviewing.

Of course, the same sagely-nodding managers would fall asleep in meetings (we're talking chair-tipped, head-back, snoring and drooling) and all pretty much spoke in buzzwords, anyway. So it might not be a fair comparison.

I was genuinely curious as to how some of the management figured out how to get up, dress themselves, and get to work in the morning. They were that incompetent.

131 posted on 09/05/2008 2:08:07 PM PDT by wbill
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To: Monterrosa-24; Remember Ruby Ridge
"In the Army people now say “orientate” instead of the proper “orient”...”We need to orientate the map”...ugh."

"Orientate" drove me nuts when I first entered the Army, although it is now recognized as a legitimate word, and even John le Carre has used it, I avoid it...much like my other bane, "irregardless."

132 posted on 09/05/2008 2:09:43 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: wbill

Basically....


133 posted on 09/05/2008 2:11:34 PM PDT by Eagle Eye (She has a stronger resume than Obama. She's been a real mayor, he hasn't. She has been a real govern)
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To: wbill

I *did* use it.
***Perhaps you did not notice that I properly used the sarcasm tag. That means that what I write is pretty much the opposite of what I mean. So when freepers write something that another gets offended by, they weasel out and say it was sarcasm. That’s one of my Free Republic pet peeves. I know, maybe a little bit too subtle. Note the absence of a sarcasm tag -—>


134 posted on 09/05/2008 2:13:00 PM PDT by Kevmo (Obama Birth Certificate is a Forgery. http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/certifigate/index?tab=articles)
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To: I see my hands
It's overuse is not good.

Think out of the box is also a over used phrase.

135 posted on 09/05/2008 2:15:26 PM PDT by ThomasThomas (Real change actually changes something.)
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To: wbill

I think “empowerment” needs to be in there somewhere.


136 posted on 09/05/2008 2:18:17 PM PDT by Brett66 (Where government advances, and it advances relentlessly , freedom is imperiled -Janice Rogers Brown)
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To: Crawdad

The use of “in lieu of,” when the speaker really means “in view of.” I hear it from local infobabes all the time.


137 posted on 09/05/2008 2:25:08 PM PDT by j_tull (Massachusetts, the Gay State. Once leader of the American Revolution, now leading its demise.)
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To: Eagle Eye

Basically....

You are so quite correct. Very overused.

But, like, I think, like, many questions are, like, answered far too often with “Again...”


138 posted on 09/05/2008 2:27:31 PM PDT by swift15 (Not actively enabling the grievance industry or advancing world socialism.)
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To: Notary Sojac
Don't get it? Plot an x-y graph with time on the horizontal axis and skills acquired on the vertical axis. Now, what does an hard-to master skill look like?

Not to defend this too much, because I know that 99% of the people who use this phrase couldn't graph a function if their lives depended on it (oops, is that an overused phrase?), but I think the phrase originated with the idea that a person has a lot to learn and is allotted a short amount of time to learn it. If you graph that, it is a steep curve.
139 posted on 09/05/2008 2:36:16 PM PDT by fr_freak
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To: Monterrosa-24
In the Army people now say “orientate” instead of the proper “orient”...”We need to orientate the map”...ugh.

That one drives me nuts, too, but it seems to be gaining acceptance everywhere. I was watching the Planet Earth series the other day and the narrator, David Attenborough, a guy who speaks the Queen's English, used "orientate" that way. I was a bit surprised.
140 posted on 09/05/2008 2:39:44 PM PDT by fr_freak
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