A Task for You: Count the Buzzwords


Ok. I’ve worked in the small and medium sized companies all my life now, and I can tell you with no uncertainty that no matter how large or small your organization, buzzwords and buzzphrases are as tightly integrated into your company, as its corporate charter. If you don’t know what I’m talking about think about the last time someone said to you or in your presence: “Let’s take this conversation ‘offline’.” In the quoted sentence, the buzzword is “offline”.

There are literally hundreds of these terms out there. I’ve compiled a list of my least favorites for you here. My task for you all is one of two:

  1. Add to this list
  2. Post a count of the number of times someone uses these phrases in your presence (including yourself) on a given workday.

Here is my list:

  • At the end of the day
  • Bells and whistles
  • Deliverables
  • Drill(ing) down
  • Execute
  • Face time
  • focused as a suffix (as in results-focused)
  • Low-hanging fruit
  • Mission-critical
  • Metrics
  • Moving the goal posts
  • Next steps
  • Nuts and bolts
  • Offline (as in “Let’s talk about it offline.”)
  • Off the shelf
  • Our time to shine
  • Out of the loop
  • Out of the box
    • Paradigms
    • Pass the baton
    • Post mortem
    • Pushing the envelope
    • Pull the trigger
    • Putting out fires
    • Radar screen (as in “It’s not showing up on my radar screen.”)
    • Red herring
    • Rubber hits the road
    • Self-motivated
    • Synergistic
    • Temperature gauge
    • Ten-thousand foot fiew
    • The Crux of the matter
    • Touch base (as in “Let’s touch base this afternoon.”)
    • Value-added
    • Warm and fuzzies

    Those of you with whom I’ve shared an office might think I stole these from a single man. If you know what I’m talking about, then you know who I mean. Well the truth is, I didn’t. Only two or three of these terms came exclusively from him. The rest I researched on my own. Later

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    August 31st, 2006
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    Reader Comments

    Comment Number:
    1
    Written by:
    Mofo
    Posted on:
    September 1, 2006 at 11:26 am

    Funny, I work for a comapny that engages in that type of spiel, but some new phrases have emerged:

    - Delta

    - Net New

    - Yes, but…

    Comment Number:
    2
    Written by:
    Natalie
    Posted on:
    September 3, 2006 at 9:46 am

    Two of my favorites that are said everyday where I work are:

    Take the bull by the horns

    It is what it is

    Comment Number:
    3
    Written by:
    Kyle
    Posted on:
    September 21, 2006 at 5:20 pm

    Here is one of my favorites:
    Leverage the business model. Nobody knows what it means, but there is a guy that I used to work with that said it all of the time on conference calls.

    Comment Number:
    4
    Written by:
    Jim
    Posted on:
    September 22, 2006 at 12:25 am

    I heard another one today I haven’t heard in a while, so if I might amend my own list:

    “Spinning our wheels”

    Comment Number:
    5
    Written by:
    The Average White Guy - » What’s Wrong With My Adsense?
    Posted on:
    April 13, 2007 at 9:37 am

    […] So what’s my problem? Where am I going wrong? Should I just pound the pavement (which should be in my Buzzwords post) a bit and try to spike my traffic figures? ARHG!!! Help The Average White Guy! […]

    Comment Number:
    6
    Written by:
    Paula
    Posted on:
    September 20, 2007 at 12:49 am

    I actually found you by googling “stupid management buzzwords.” :) I was laughing with a friend today about how much we hate these things and how we try to use them ourselves in everyday work as a challenge.

    To your list, I’d suggest adding:

    next level (taking things to the)
    bandwidth (capacity to take on more work)
    full plate (of work)
    stepping up to the plate (taking responsibility)
    belts and suspenders (extra precautionary steps)
    down in the weeds (too caught up in detail)
    value proposition (who knows what it means?!?)
    baubleheads (really dumb management guys)
    plug-n-play (someone who doesn’t need training)

    Thanks for your list…priceless!

    Comment Number:
    7
    Written by:
    The Average White Guy
    Posted on:
    September 20, 2007 at 8:41 am

    Paula… AWESOME! If you think of some more, bring them here :)

    Thanks for the comment

    Comment Number:
    8
    Written by:
    Gerry
    Posted on:
    December 19, 2007 at 4:30 pm

    The phrase we used to hear endlessly was “going forward”; sometimes so gratuitously that it was used almost as a comma, as kids say “like”.

    To make matters worse, the phrase prior to this was “moving forward”.