tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77681770413674901932023-11-15T08:57:24.919-05:00The BuzzkillA Nitpicker's Guide to the LexiconPeter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-79520256634613174852009-06-14T23:03:00.001-04:002009-06-14T23:05:43.737-04:00reimaginingOn May 25, 2009, The Globe and Mail announced the reorganization of its executive team. The newspaper’s publisher and CEO, Phillip Crawley, shared the news with staff in an office e-mail message that was quickly reported elsewhere. In setting the context, Crawley wrote: “Reimagination-inspired teamwork during the last four years has reinforced the value of a more collaborative way of managing Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-18050330881862205582009-05-19T21:33:00.000-04:002009-05-19T21:35:18.062-04:00things we are not allowed to say in the bandI’ve long enjoyed the unpredictable music of They Might Be Giants. I was surprised but heartened to see the following list featured in their most recent e-mail newsletter, which suggests the band members (or at least their current drummer, Marty Beller) are kindred spirits to buzzword skeptics and nitpickers the world over: This is the update on “The List According to Marty Beller.” These are Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-56179922612529396102009-04-25T23:24:00.001-04:002009-04-25T23:25:34.453-04:00extremeSome buzzwords never go away, even after it would seem their time had come and gone. One perennial nuisance is ‘extreme,’ which continues to be used with none of the context necessary to give it meaning. Throughout the 1980s, ‘extreme sports’ became a popular catchall term to describe trendy outdoor activities with a high perceived level of danger, such as bungee jumping. Soon, the term was Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-18040057174659034242009-04-19T23:11:00.002-04:002009-04-19T23:16:50.064-04:00road warriorSome buzzwords are laughable in their blatant attempts to feed selected egos. ‘Road warrior’ is one such label that has been sorely misapplied in recent years. The term dates back to the 1981 movie sequel Mad Max 2, which was marketed in North America (where most audiences were as yet unfamiliar with its low-budget 1979 predecessor) as The Road Warrior. In this post-apocalyptic action film, Mel Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-14857881193572004712009-04-12T23:13:00.002-04:002009-04-12T23:18:14.493-04:00postureCoherent use of language occasionally requires context to ensure a potentially ambiguous term can be understood. It is particularly galling, then, when a word with multiple legitimate meanings becomes commonly used as a buzzword whose meaning isn’t clear at all. One example is ‘posture.’ A posture can be a relative position, condition, state, attitude, carriage or bearing, while ‘to posture’ is Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-74556414156947125312009-04-05T23:42:00.002-04:002009-04-05T23:46:08.777-04:00advance warningWhen phrases are coined to emphasize their own importance, they can end up saying twice what only needs to be said once. An example of such redundancy that has infiltrated many mainstream news stories is ‘advance warning.’ In early April 2009, newspapers around the world reported an impending missile launch in North Korea. According to the Associated Press and The Yomiuri Shimbun, “It was the Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-17437536307480451122009-04-02T00:18:00.000-04:002009-04-02T00:19:09.420-04:00holisticTrends in one area of study can spawn buzzwords in others. ‘Holistic’ is an example of this phenomenon, with its connotations moving from philosophy to medicine and then to, well, pretty much everything else. The idea of holism, which has itself become something of a cliché, is that a whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This is the opposite of reductionism. Accordingly, the goal of Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-67383424961547309212009-03-29T23:21:00.002-04:002009-03-29T23:26:24.259-04:00graphic novelSome buzzwords are euphemisms deployed to add gravitas to their subjects in an attempt to win greater respect and mainstream use. One that has become common in today’s media is ‘graphic novel,’ an overly elaborate way of saying ‘comic book.’ In the comics publishing industry, it is not a new term, dating back to the 1960s and ‘70s, when a number of collected series and longer original works werePeter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-22685997811411757472009-03-26T23:44:00.002-04:002009-03-26T23:49:56.761-04:00revolutionizeSome terms become buzzwords through exaggeration. One example is ‘revolutionize,’ which is currently used to describe many situations that simply do not warrant it. To revolutionize something is to change it fundamentally. Such events have historically included forceful overthrows of governments (e.g. the French Revolution) and the formation of new economies (e.g. the Industrial Revolution). Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-18161700599433645612009-03-22T23:40:00.002-04:002009-03-22T23:44:24.121-04:00premier(e)Even in a nominally bilingual country like Canada, nothing makes a handier buzzword than an exotic-sounding French import. One example is ‘premier’ (or its feminine form, ‘premiere’), which is often trotted out as though it were a classy way to say, “We’re number one!” Confusion can easily result, however, from its ambiguity. The preferred meanings of ‘premiere,’ for example, are a noun and a Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-72627188479467956552009-03-19T22:42:00.002-04:002009-03-19T22:46:20.559-04:00coordinatesIn business, buzzwords can arise from glib attempts to make the daily grind more exciting. Office workers who travel frequently for sales or consulting purposes are dubbed ‘road warriors.’ Corporate initiatives promise to ‘revolutionize’ the way a company operates. And new contacts are asked, “What are your coordinates?” Coordinates are, of course, a mathematical concept—a set of magnitudes thatPeter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-57612224336916906542009-03-15T23:15:00.002-04:002009-03-15T23:21:04.880-04:00perspectiveWhile some buzzwords are used to connote erroneous meanings, others are used in contexts that fail to provide sufficient meaning of any kind. Such is the case today with ‘perspective,’ a noun that, when referring to a point of view, requires context to suggest what that point of view might entail. An example provided in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary is “a Marxist perspective”—the point of view Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-43581010185198206012009-03-12T23:53:00.002-04:002009-03-12T23:57:54.568-04:00blockbusterAnother term that has become a buzzword because of unjustified use is ‘blockbuster,’ when referring to a movie (as opposed to the older, more literal meaning of an enormous bomb that can destroy a block of buildings). A movie becomes a blockbuster when it is hugely popular and, therefore, profitable. With increasing regularity, however, many media sources refer to movies as ‘blockbusters’ when Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-11155483940067848092009-03-10T23:30:00.002-04:002009-03-10T23:34:12.727-04:00controversialSome words lose their force of meaning through overuse in circumstances that do not necessarily warrant them. Such is the case with ‘controversial,’ which news reporters increasingly deploy without any justification. To be controversial is not a particularly extreme state; it merely entails the causing of debate or dispute surrounding a subject. Yet, many reporters are quick to label events, Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-32328359798662214552009-03-05T23:18:00.002-05:002009-03-05T23:21:26.426-05:00end userWhen computing became ubiquitous, the term ‘user’ quickly came to define, well, practically all of us. That is to say, we were the users of computers. We encountered graphical user interfaces (GUIs). We set up user accounts. We chose usernames. Somewhere along the line, however, a redundant appendage was added to this term. We became ‘end users.’ In a rather vague matter of semantics, an end Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-74942096527334223492009-03-01T14:58:00.003-05:002009-03-01T15:07:46.658-05:00ninjaIt’s rare to see a buzzword take on both positive and negative connotations within a short period of use, but such has been the confusing case with ‘ninja’ in recent years. In its original sense, a ninja was an assassin or spy who used stealth and camouflage in feudal Japan. Centuries later, however, the popularity of fanciful martial arts tales elevated the ninja archetype to international Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-65301526180661206432009-02-25T18:41:00.002-05:002009-02-25T18:48:27.903-05:00time bombWhile many clichés overtake terms’ original meanings in the public consciousness, it can be reassuring to see those basic definitions show up again, as they help show how misguided buzzwords can be. On February 24, 2009, the Associated Press (AP) reported that a recent explosion in Cairo, Egypt, had involved a time bomb: The crude bomb that killed a French teenager and injured 24 others at a Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-86505429791841682392009-02-13T23:52:00.002-05:002009-02-13T23:56:02.010-05:00robustSome buzzwords catch on because they deliberately vague and therefore can be used without any consequence. It’s the art of saying something and saying nothing at the same time. One such term that seems increasingly frequent wherever empty promises are being made is “robust.” It is a non-specific word by definition. If a person is robust, for example, he/she is generally strong, healthy and full Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-70533758909128828082009-02-11T23:24:00.002-05:002009-02-11T23:27:42.767-05:00gridlockSome buzzwords are simply cases of exaggeration. ‘Gridlock,’ for example, is being widely used today to describe situation that aren’t really up to snuff. Strictly speaking, gridlock is a scenario involving a grid-based transportation network—e.g. a system of roads—whereby blocked intersections prevent vehicles from moving. It thus describes a locked grid where movement becomes nearly impossiblePeter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-60268988768535634462009-02-10T00:07:00.001-05:002009-02-10T00:10:20.022-05:00intelligentTwo major news providers, Thomson and Reuters, merged in 2008 to create a dual-listed company that offers financial market data, health-care information, legal research, tax and accounting updates, scientific information and general-interest news. Thomson Reuters summarizes all of these services as “intelligent information for businesses and professionals.” One should certainly hope all Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-55361260209668927162009-02-08T13:24:00.000-05:002009-02-08T13:25:25.163-05:00pansificationThere are many cases where buzzwords play even more haphazardly with grammar than with meaning. Nouns and adjectives are often twisted into verbs (e.g. “to architect” and “to green”). One such case that has been receiving plenty of media attention in Canada lately is “pansification,” a noun based on a verb improperly based on another noun. It had become popular with commentators on CBC’s Hockey Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-52418030812421477122009-02-05T00:04:00.002-05:002009-02-05T00:13:53.228-05:00Generation XIn 1965, the interview-based book Generation X by Jane Deverson and Charles Hamblett profiled U.K. teenagers of its time, who had been born soon after the so-called ‘baby boom’ that followed the Second World War. The book was sufficiently influential that singer Billy Idol named a punk rock band after it in 1976. In 1991, however, Canadian author Douglas Coupland’s fictional book Generation X: Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-1176711975534731702009-02-02T23:56:00.002-05:002009-02-03T00:02:50.797-05:00perfect stormLike ‘brave new world’ before it, the phrase ‘perfect storm’ became popular after it was the title of a book. Specifically, The Perfect Storm was a 1997 non-fiction bestseller by Sebastian Junger about the effects of a severe storm at sea in 1991. The title referred to the collective impact of numerous concurrent weather events—an impact that could be considered greater than the sum of its parts.Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-76474618088037847842009-01-30T23:27:00.002-05:002009-01-30T23:56:42.424-05:00enterpriseAnother catch-all term that appears frequently in information technology (IT) articles and press releases is ‘enterprise.’ It’s used in the sense that considers a business as a collective organization, but it also conveniently hints at its other meanings, suggesting the readiness to undertake any bold, challenging activity. That might be fine, harmless optimism as far as it goes, but now this Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7768177041367490193.post-68536379955401118062009-01-28T23:53:00.002-05:002009-01-28T23:58:28.543-05:00viralInformation technology (IT) has become fertile ground for buzzwords, particularly as new terms are needed to describe various aspects of computing. Perhaps due to the sheer speed of this trend, there are often linguistic inconsistencies within this one sector. Almost everyone is aware, for example, of the dangers posed by computer viruses, whereby hidden programming code can corrupt systems or Peter Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12139294381839470191noreply@blogger.com2