Even after a year of working from home – some things never change. One of them is buzzwords. Merriam-Webster defines a buzzword an as important-sounding usually technical word or phrase often of little meaning used chiefly to impress laymen. And it seems people hate business buzzwords
The word-smiths at GetResponse, surveyed over 1000 people to identify the most hated business buzzwords. GetResponse asked respondents to tell them their most hated jargon terms. Here are the top five most hated business buzzwords….
5. Thinking outside the box
Wikipedia writes that thinking outside the box is a metaphor, which has become a cliché. It means to think unconventionally or from a new perspective. The term is widely used in business environments, especially by management consultants and executive coaches starting in the 1970s challenging their clients to solve the “nine dots” puzzle, whose solution requires some lateral thinking.
4. Raising the bar
The phrase originates in athletic terminology from around the turn of the century. It is from the track and field events of pole vault and high jump, where it is necessary to raise the bar after each jump to reach a new height record and increase the competition. In the workplace, bosses are continually setting new targets or goals for the workers to achieve, hence raising the bar there too.
3. Touch base
Merriam-Webster says this hated business buzzword comes from baseball where both runner and fielders have to “touch base” in order to be safe or record an out. Perhaps the idea of the “base” became associated with “home base” or place of meeting, before becoming the idiom we know today.
2. Teamwork
The origin of the word “team” goes as far back as the year 825. Grammarphobia reports it originally meant a set of draft animals. it’s derived from old Germanic sources having to do with drawing or pulling. In the early 1500s, the noun was first used to refer to people, either working together or associated in some joint endeavor. In 1886 this gave us the sports uses, such as “team player.”
The blog claims the verb “team” also showed up in the 1500s. The Oxford English Dictionary says It originally meant to harness or yoke, as a farmer might “team” horses or oxen. We still use the verb more or less this way, but with things instead of animals.
1. Synergy
Synergy is the most hated business buzzword. In the business world the term implies that, when the right two companies merge, they’ll produce a profitable synergy. Synergy became a trendy buzzword in the 1980s after it appeared in an Economist article (even though it’s actually been around since 1632). The idea of synergy was one factor in what became a “merger mania;” unfortunately, business synergy often turned out to be harder to achieve than to imagine.
Here is the entire list from GetResponse
2020's Most Hated Business Buzzwords
| Rank | Jargon Term | % who hate it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Synergy | 4.29 |
| 2 | Teamwork | 3.43 |
| 3 | Touch base | 2.08 |
| 4 | Raising the bar | 1.96 |
| 5 | Think outside the box | 1.72 |
| 6 | Work harder | 1.72 |
| 7 | Best practice | 1.47 |
| 8 | Paradigm shift | 1.47 |
| 9 | The next time you feel the need to reach out | 1.35 |
| 10 | Empower | 0.98 |
| 11 | Keep up the good work | 0.98 |
| 12 | At the end of the day | 0.86 |
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I don’t use these hated business buzzwords at home. It’s not weekend talk. Buzzwords and jargon are generally the domain of “office speak.”
Why do we have jargon overload in the business environment? There are many possible reasons. People want to fit in and belong, be seen as an insider, or mimic their bosses so it seems like it’s the right thing to use hated business buzzword.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him at LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
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