Posted on 04/21/2005 7:17:39 AM PDT by sinkspur
Every year hundreds of nominations are sent by mail and e-mail to Lake Superior State University (Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.) for inclusion in a list of words the university is seeking to banish from the Queen’s English because of their mis-use, over-use and general uselessness. Word-watchers find their nominations in everyday speech, as well as in the news, in the fields of education, advertising, and politics, and, as you might have guessed, in technical fields.
On the university’s current list, the 27th annual, these technical terms are applicants for banning. Comments from the nominators explain why they were selected.
ramp up: often used to suggest an increase in productivity or a product’s effectiveness. "Whatever happened to increase?" –Lance Rivers (Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.)
functionality: most often coupled with increased. "Used in the computer field when people don't seem to know how to explain a software feature. It’s used as a crutch, and it’s used way too much!" –Scott Watson (Oxford, Mich.)
"Used all too frequently in the information technology industry to describe attributes and capabilities…. Product ‘upgrades’ are said to feature ‘enhanced functionality,’ whatever that is." –Terry Shannon (Ashland, Mass.)
killer app: if applied to software, an outstanding computer program; in consumer electronics, a piece of hardware that will sell millions and millions of units for which the industry has been waiting years and years (ever since the VCR). "If [the software’s] function doesn’t approximate that of the HAL 9000 computer from the movie 2001, A Space Odyssey, it’s not really a killer application." –Peter Lynn (Toronto)
[Editor’s note: the use of killer app in consumer electronics has not been proscribed.]
solutions: the university’s Banishment Committee pines for the days when "our economy offered merely goods and services." "Problems demand solutions; needs demand fulfillment." –Greg Arens (Brainerd, Minn.)
To submit your nomination for next year’s word banishment list to Lake Superior State University, which styles itself, with 3000 students, as Michigan’s smallest public university, go to http://www.issu.edu/banished/.
Google as a verb
Cool names for crime, like phishing, war driving, and bluesnarfing.
ROI puns: return on insight, return on innovation, return on intranet, return on introspection.....
VoIP used as a word, as in "Voyp": this is too nerdy to be believed.
Words other than software with "ware" at the end: malware, freeware, shelfware. This kind of stuff is headed noware.
"Take this discussion offline." My boss uses this in meetings; I usually end up getting an email on the the thing that was supposed to be offline, which means it is now online.
SMS abbreviations in business e-mail: i.e., "r u 4 real?" I hate this stuff from grown people.
My take on "Solutions:" This is not going to go away, as my own company continues to label software tools as "solutions." There are products, there are services, there is advice, all vital for solving problems. If it's a "solution," nobody should have to pay anything until the problem is solved.
And, finally, "Bandwidth"
Feel free to add your own.
Two more: bling and metrosexual.
Can't wait till "bitch-slap" is a thing of the past
"24-7".
While not technical, the words that really get to me are "enthused" and "irregardless."
"Come with" or "go with".
Diversity in place of it's true meaning - forced conformity.
anything that ends with -ccino in an attempt to be trendy, such as mochaccino.
the word PROGRESSIVE as defined to mean liberal-leaning.
And I'll just offer that we cleanse the language of french-rooted words because it's the right thing to do.
"Big time".
Not a techie word but it annoys me nonetheless:
"Dethawed" is a word I hear often. Defrost or thaw are acceptable, dethaw isn't a word and actually would mean the opposite of what the user is trying to say.
It also annoys me when people use the name of a restaurant as a name of the food they ate. Example "I had McDonalds for lunch." No, you ate at McDonalds. You had a hamburger. I even do that sometimes but it's a peeve.
It's spelled spiggot dammit not spicket!
I was like, well, like, I'm not sure if I, like, want to go, like, you know, like, I'm just not sure if it's going to be, like, worth it, you know, like, I just don't know.
The most overused in the English language.
fusion as in California fusion, asian fusion, etc. regarding food.
"Fulsome" used to mean "very complete and full", as in
"We have added fulsome language to that contract to make sure we're covered."
Fulsome means disgusting.
On the other hand, folks who get their panties in a wad over splitting infinitives need to go back to Latin class. It is perfectly normal, in Anglo-Saxon grammar, to purposefully split the infinitive in order to dramatically emphasize a point.
That's another one.
"Sooner rather than later"
The first time I heard that expression was from Bill Clinton, telling us when he'd reveal details his relationship w/Monica. And after that, the press and the rest of the world seemed to pick up on it.
I hate it when I get into high dudgeon about linguistic matters and make a gaffe myself.
PURPOSELY, not "purposefully".
Hoist by my own petard... or perhaps joist by my own canard.
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