jargon

The Best and Worst Business Buzzwords

By in Communication, Language Tags: , , , ,

Guy_Using_Buzzwords

When you’re at work, do you often hear people use phrases like “It’s on my radar,” “Table this,” or “Think outside the box”?  Most of us do. According to a recent survey by Preply, seven out of ten people use this type of business jargon at the office.

But just because we hear this type of language at work, that doesn’t necessarily mean we like it! The survey results also indicated that one out of five people find business buzzwords to be annoying.

So what terms do people tend to hate the most? Here are the five that were rated most poorly:

  • New normal – This phrase is often used to remind people that they need to adjust to a new, possibly unpleasant situation.
  • Circle back – The idea that a certain issue will need to be discussed again may not be the most pleasant news for some people.
  • Company culture – Respondents felt unhappy when they were told to do things because it was the “company culture” or the “way things are done here” instead of being given a valid reason.
  • Boots on the ground – This phrase is often used to give people the unhappy news that they need to put in long hours at work or an enormous amount of effort in order to get something done.
  • Give 110% – Respondents didn’t appreciate being told that they have to give more than 100%, which isn’t actually possible.

And what business buzzwords did survey respondents find the least annoying? Here are three of the least irritating expressions:

  • At the end of the day – This phrase is often used when people are talking about what was learned from a series of events. Respondents didn’t have a problem with this phrase.
  • Debrief – This word is often used to suggest that people should gather together to discuss something that has occurred. Once again, respondents didn’t mind this jargon.
  • Table this – Survey respondents felt fine about “tabling” something (or putting it aside for now).

2018 Office Jargon and What It Means

By in Communication Tags: ,

Confused_by_jargon2

I think I work in a jargon-loving office. My coworkers are always throwing around phrases like “I don’t have enough bandwidth” and “that’s definitely in my wheelhouse.” Honestly, I hear these types of phrases so often that I sometimes forget that they’re office jargon. A couple weeks ago, I used the term “bandwidth” when talking to my boyfriend, and he was completely confused.

So just in case you work in an office that isn’t quite so enamored with jargon, I thought some definitions might come in handy. Here’s a list of some of the phrases that you might encounter, and what they mean:

Phrase When Would You Use It? Example
Not enough bandwidth When you’re too busy to take on a new task “I don’t have the bandwidth for this project.”
In my wheelhouse When something is within your area of expertise “This trivia challenge is totally in my wheelhouse!”
Bleeding edge When the terms “cutting-edge” or “state-of-the-art” just aren’t enough and you want to take it a step further “This new technology is bleeding edge!”
Put a record on and see who dances When you want to try something out and see what happens (similar to the phrase “run it up the flagpole”) “I’m not sure how people will react to this new product, so let’s just put a record on and see who dances.”
Boil the ocean When you think something is impossible “Bob, don’t boil the ocean. You know you can’t get all that work done in two weeks.”
OOTO and OOO When you’re too tired to type out the words “out of the office” (OOTO) or “out of office” (OOO) “I’m OOTO. Be back on Tuesday.”
All-hands When everyone is expected to participate “We’re going to be holding an all-hands meeting.”
Circle back When you intend to check up on something at a later date “I’ll circle back with you on that report you’re writing.”
Pain point When there’s a problem or challenge “What are the pain points on this project?”

 

2018 Business Jargon and What It Really Means. (2018, March 20). In Unum. Retrieved from: https://www.unum.co.uk/hr/2018-business-jargon-and-what-it-really-means

Brenoff, A. (2018, July 20). Your handy 2018 guide to officespeak. Huffington Post. Retrieved from:  https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/guide-to-officespeak_us_5b50b6bae4b0de86f48ac4c2

 

Translating Office Jargon

By in Communication Tags:

Confused_by_jargon

There’s just no escaping office jargon. It pops up in meetings, memos, and emails. It’s kind of like a foreign language that involves mysterious terms like “synergy,” “actionable,” “incentivize,” and “closing the loop.”

Over time, you can pick up on it. The more you’re exposed to it, the easier it is to understand. But just in case you’re new to the business world, here’s a list of a few of the common phrases that you’ll encounter at the office and what they mean:

  • Learning experience – You made a mistake, but it’s OK because there are no serious consequences.
  • Play it back to me – Please repeat what you said. I wasn’t listening to you before, but I am now.
  • Looping you in – We’re going to include you on a long email thread in the hopes that you can alleviate a problem or fix something that’s gone wrong.
  • Let’s take this offline – I want to fill you in, but not in front of all of these other people.
  • Buy-in – You weren’t involved in shaping this idea, but now your support is needed.
  • Above my pay grade – Thankfully, I don’t need to handle this issue. My boss will deal with it.
  • Bandwidth – A word used to describe available resources (like time or energy).
  • Low-hanging fruit – Tasks that can be easily completed without a lot of effort.
  • It’s on the road map – That’s a good idea that we may adopt one day, but not for a really long time.

Do you have some office jargon that you’d like to share and define? Please do so in the Comments section below!

 

Deutsch, L., & Durando, J. (2014, September 24). Office jargon translator: What’s your boss really saying? USA Today. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/09/24/office-jargon-translator-interactive/16144949/

 

At the End of the Day…

By in Language Tags: , , ,

BoringMeeting

Please allow me to rant a little. It’s the end of the day. A long and tedious one as well.

At the end of the day, I sometimes like a mug of hot chocolate. Sometimes it’s nice to have a little red wine at the end of the day. I sometimes like to curl up with a good book at the end of the day. Or sometimes I will watch a film.

Those are the things I like to do at the end of the day.

I attended a meeting today, and someone talked about what would happen “at the end of the day” on four different occasions. The problem was that he wasn’t talking about the end of the day at all. He said things like, “At the end of the day, it’s our people who make the difference.”

“At the end of the day” seemed to be a banal and meaningless punctuation mark he used to decorate his uninteresting comments. He was using what some people call corporate speak, those meaningless expressions that add nothing to the conversation and should be deleted from anyone’s repertoire of phrases. I find expressions like these annoying at the beginning of the day, in the middle of the day, and at the end of the day.

The trouble with expressions like these is that they say absolutely nothing. They are jargon of the worst order and can be deleted without subtracting substance.

I cannot help feeling that we can take our organizations to the next level (yes, that is parody!) by ridding them of this kind of meaningless drivel. But doing so would be like boiling the ocean!

Here are a few examples of the kind of language I am talking about:

boil the ocean

peel the onion

bring to the table

take to the next level

the end of the day

moving forward

So what do you think? Do these phrases add anything to meetings besides tedium? Or do they improve the business environment? Or do you have your own pet peeve phrases? We’d love to hear your comments!

Design — Less Is Better

By in Innovation, Technology Tags: , , , , , ,

Web_Design

Dieter Rams is a German industrial engineer who is famous for his ten principles of good design. The tenth principle is “Good design is as little design as possible. Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.”

I have recently been impressed by the award-winning website, Gov.UK. The site replaces hundreds of British government websites, and it aims to be a quick and functional way for citizens and businesses to access information about the government. Here are a few things I noticed that might be of interest to anyone thinking of designing a website to support a large or complex organization:

  1. The site is written in plain language. There is no jargon or legalese.
  2. The site is designed from the perspective of the user. It seems as if the designers know that nobody is really interested in the structure of the government. For example, if you want to find out your tax rate, the link is “Money and Tax.” There is no need for you to guess which department handles that.
  3. There are no decorative graphics. A crown logo makes it clear that this is the British government website, but there aren’t any gratuitous pictures that add nothing to its function.

When the site won the Design Museum’s Design of the Year award, the British newspaper, The Daily Mail, scoffed “And the award goes to boring.com!” But in my opinion, for a government website, boring is good! How refreshing to be able to reach the information you need quickly and easily.

Give the site a try. Imagine you’re a British citizen, and you want to figure out your tax rate. Go to Gov.UK, and count the clicks it takes to find the information you need. Now go to the American government site to accomplish the same thing.

Let us know what you think! Is less really more? Or is boring really bad?