The overused word of the century

The Bing Blog ^ | 9/3/08 | Stanley Bing

[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)

[Scarpetta]

I nominate “vetted.”

[Sig Sauer P220]

erectile dysfunction

[CaliGirl-R]

The phrase “Just sayin” is starting to get on my nerves.

[wbill]

I've found that saying "I proactively leverage my synergies" while in meetings, generally gets a favorable response.

If I'm among like-minded engineers, the line generally gets a laugh. Among management, they nod sagely, like I just dispensed a great pearl of wisdom.

Not kidding. :-)

[Fiji Hill]

I'll take the word "cool" over the "kewl" I see all the time on the internet.

The same goes for "fat" over "phat" and "fishing" over "phishing."

[lakeman]

Uh uh uh ahh ahh ummm uhhh

[Doomonyou]

what exactly does “cool” mean?

Groovy.

[AZLiberty]

Another overused phrase: “... of the century”, especially when we’re not even a decade into it.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

Our hearts go out to you.

[CodeToad]

My favorite is “I’d like to dialog with you about utilizing resources for a synergetic effort.”

[lakeman]

Like Totally

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

Camelot.

[Drawsing]

I would like to take this strategically positioned moment to leverage a previously overlooked annoying word....”Feedback”!!

[Cecily]

This whole thread has a case of the Mondays (even though it's Friday).

[Sig Sauer P220]

Also, us cubicle dwellers always thought the person with more than two words in their title would be the first ones laid off/fired because no one could really figure out what the heck they did every day. Usually turned out to be true.

You mean like, Senior Community Organizer.

[Steve Van Doorn]

word

[Nick Danger]

We have to check the words on the ground.

[wbill]

“Man, you know what I’d do if I was a millionaire?”

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

“The fact of the matter is...” is filler. Like the extra fat in the bacon you want lean, or the long stalk on the broccoli crowns they are selling by the pound. These extraneous words and phrases fill up the time so the speaker need not root around for intelligent thoughts; and we pay more attention than they earn.