Comments on: Playing buzzword bingo

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:02:18 +0000

My current (least) favourite is ’skill sets’. What is in skill sets that is not in skills? The second word is a completely redundant waste of space.

By: Melbourne Worker

Melbourne Worker — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:56:43 +0000

Ahhh, buzzwords (and buzzphrases I guess). Meetings would be so much shorter, but possibly less interesting without them…

Maximising the synergistic potential seemed to be rather a favourite in some circles for a while, not heard much about synergies lately though thankfully.

And I’m with you Emma - no-one should be allowed to use the word percent without first acquiring at least a basic understanding of the concept!

Love the concept of the bullfighter, and if you’re looking for another tongue-in-cheek distraction, try the alternative motivational pictures here: http://www.despair.com/viewall.html

By: No bull

No bull — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:30:53 +0000

What about “pushing the envelope”, “thinking outside the square” or “raising the bar”?

The Australian Institute of Management has developed this fantastic little program (free) called Bullfighter that appears as an icon in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint and works much like a spell check feature. When it detects jargon and complicated language it dispenses a tongue in cheek reprimand to the author and suggests an alternative word or phrase.

See: http://www.fightthebull.com/bullfighter.asp

By: Emma Dilemma

Emma Dilemma — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:30:00 +0000

I can’t bear when people say they’ve given 101% per cent. What? You couldn’t give more than 101%? How about 110? Or 200%, for that matter?

By: Karen Jamal

Karen Jamal — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:51:41 +0000

I don’t know how this fits, but I hate the crazy overcapitalisation that is rife. Particularly, capitalising words such as “member” to make those members feel extra special, or “government” so that those bureaucrats feel important.