Abolish these linguistic habits, please

05 January 2022

This was written at the end of 2021, but I try to keep this list up to date and healthy - email me if you have additions.

Friends: I'd like to see many things about 2021 go away. I've got a pile of new year's resolutions. For those of you who know what I'm talking about, maybe you'll join me in adding this small one to your list: let's work to abolish these wrong corporate-speak habits from the English language forever.

  • Referring to the near future as a thing called "a go-forward" i.e. From a 'go-forward' perspective.
  • Overuse of the word perspective, period.
  • Calling the learning process "Ramping up".
  • Calling your first day on a new project "onboarding".
  • Saying more or less sophisticated when you mean 'dumb'.
  • When you mean "I want to have a private chat about this (and I have feelings about this topic)" but you say "maybe it's a separate conversation. Lets take it offline."
  • When you have choices, you say you have optionality.
  • Using "Robust" to talk about a bunch of ways to maximize $$.
  • ^^ There I did it - stop saying maximize/optimize for everything you want to improve.
  • Overuse of 'Driving' when headed to a goal.
  • Pronouncing EBITDA instead of saying 'Net' for financial things - though everyone insists you need to use the 'right' word here.
  • 'Circle back' to revisit a topic.
  • 'Open Kimono' to indicate you are being extra-transparent or vulnerable.
  • 'One throat to choke' bugs me, but oddly 'throwing [x] under the bus' does not. I have some reflecting to do.
  • 'Surfacing' as in: “Thank you for surfacing your list of annoying terms, Ben.”
  • 'Bandwidth', meaning time you may available.
  • 'Share Out', meaning to share. Out is redundant.
  • 'You're fine', in response to 'excuse me'.
  • 'Heavy lift', meaning something taking effort.

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