Death to jargon!
[A lot about “death” these days...]
I’ve always had a particular distaste for jargon – Internet and business jargon, in particular.
At a company I used to work at, we worked closely with a large corporation. If we had a meeting with them, we could count on their constant use of the Jargon Du Jour. I remember one meeting years ago that saw the constant use of the new term “drill down” – so much, in fact, I was ready to use a drill on my brain.
Nick Usbourne at Excess Voice has created a cool new line of Business Jargon Protest Mugs – short lines to protest the ridiculous jargon and cliches that permeate business language. Here are two of my faves:
- Sorry I’m late, but my paradigm shifted over my integrated solution and I couldn’t gain traction.
- I don’t feel like interfacing with anyone today.
Then he asked readers of his newsletter to send in their entries for a contest to generate more. Here are some of those tasty lines:
- Those deliverables you’re bringing to the table better include donuts.
- If we’re on the same page, which part are you reading?
- Concocting unlikely new ways to solve problems that don’t actually exist
- If you want me to think outside of the box, why am I still sitting in this cubicle?
You can read all of them here. Start your Christmas shopping early!