Editor’s note: Apparently, the intended humor of this post eluded some, but hopefully not all, readers. Cheers, folks. It’s New Year’s Eve, after all.
Social media maven Sarah Evans, who sits on the advisory board of our local Helping Girls Navigate Adolescence organization, recently asked her blog readers and Twitter followers what buzzwords they’d like to whack in 2010.
We all have our personal picks for consignment to the dustbin of overused jargon. At the end of the day certainly makes my list. So does out of the box, although I’ve repeatedly utilized the term in posts on this blog.
In fact, journalism has a long reputation for overusing hack phrases and my posts are no exception. It’s one of my New Year’s resolutions to avoid the temptation to pick the low-hanging fruit of trite and tiresome phrases and inject a little originality into my writing.
But journalists aren’t the only purveyors of jargon. Politicians, with their sound-bites and slogans, also do much to further the proliferation of boring buzzwords. Notice that stakeholder, transparency, organizational, key, community, reaching out and authenticity all make Evans’ list. I’m pretty sure most of them can be found numerous times in the minutes of the village council and other local government bodies.
To those overused words, I might add a few particularly local phrases that some of us would like to hear a lot less often in 2010 — at least until the next round of budget discussions: right-size, core services, tough choices, courageous leadership and the math is the math (alternatively, the math doesn’t lie).
Feel free to offer others — and to slap my hand if I type one of them in the coming year.
Going forward, at the end of the day, having said that.
I do not want to stop saying “I’m just sayin’” but I AM guilty of saying “step up to the plate” too much and also “play nice in the sandbox”… need new ways to say those! Any ideas?!
really. the “really” phrase that became uberpopular from the Amy Poehler Saturday Night Live skit as in: Really. Could really really be any more annoying? Did you really think that using this phrase makes you think you’re witty? Really?
I’m guilty of “just sayin’” but I can’t stop that one. You can add “in the meantime” and “realistically” (filler words that equate to “umm” when speaking), and “Click on the ___for a larger image.” Throw those three from me on the bonfire in the meantime, even though realistically I’ll probably keep using them…
Get rid of the widespread use of “like”. It’s the new “uh”.
Please, please, please put a stake through the heart of “that being said….”
‘…as we discussed…’
Passive aggression at its worst, ugh.
Oh my God.
well, given the political season. I would like the phrase “to be honest with you” retired indefinitely. We know its not true and rhetorical at best.
Spoiled kids who truely don’t know the meaning of a bad life using the term… FML
So…going forward, I hope the combined synergies of all our comments will produce value-added results.
I prefer “Oh my God” to OMG — “text-speak” is the next frontier of jargon
I find “with all due respect” irritating – there is even a show on cnn now.
Keep it up, guys. Before I know it there will be no more go-to phrases left in my repertoire.
Dude and/or Bro…..