Next week is national Plain English Week...well, in New Zealand. To celebrate, take a moment to vent about your least favorite corporatese, academese or other convoluted speak.For me, low hanging fruit is like nails on a chalkboard.
What about you? What jargon drives you crazy?
When used in crisis communications, "We take these matters very seriously..." provokes a strong gag reflex for me.
Wow, one of my favorite topics! Where to start?
I think some of the most offensive phrases have to be:
-"at the end of the day"
-"in these tough economic times"
-"incentivize"
-"circle back"
-"high touch"
-"drink the kool-aid"
-"brain dump"
Oh, believe me, I could go on and on. But I'd like to empower others to go live with their integrated solutions. Think outside the box, everyone!
Academic jargon that external audiences don't understand or care about:
hegemony
dialectic
praxis
pluralizing odd words, such as "feminisms" or "knowledges"
interdisciplinary (really, alumni and donors don't get it)
The verbification of nouns:
officing
dialoging
journaling
Face Booking
Also what Kelly said about the strange academese thing for making odd words plural.
Another word no one knows outside the teaching profession: pedagogy. Education professors don't even agree on how to pronounce it!
Also, making up words--I apparently have made up two, according to Word (not counting the pseudo-gerunds).
Peggy, if you hate the verbification of nouns, you will love this cartoon: http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/091706/i-verb-nouns.gif