The overused word of the century

The Bing Blog ^ | 9/3/08 | Stanley Bing

[wbill]

I was at a meeting yesterday, one of those painful presentations where a guy comes in, does twenty minutes of PowerPoint, and nearly turns his entire career to suet. That is neither here nor there. I mean, those things happen all the time. This time, it was Badnick’s turn.

What was interesting to me is that in the middle of the debacle, I heard a small snap. It was the sound of a straw breaking a camel’s back. During the meeting, I realized that a certain word has now been so overused, so over-extended, so bled of any meaning, freshness or appropriateness, that it must now be retired.

That word is Leverage.

I believe I first noticed its widespread acceptance perhaps twenty years ago...(snip)

[Kevmo]

we pay more attention than they earn.
***Hey, good writing. [insert something pithy here]

[Kevmo]

Thanks. I added that to my wishlist on Amazon. Hopefully I haven’t committed any cliche sins in this post.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

good writing

Homeschooled. :P

[Fiji Hill]

I nominate “vetted.”

I assume that the infinitive form of "vetting" is "to vet," which apparently means to investigate in a manner similar to the way a veterinarian would examinine a sick cat.

[I see my hands]

It's overuse is not good.

[Hoffer Rand]

How about the people who say “pacificly” instead of “specifically”? That's the one that drives me nuts.

[Monterrosa-24]

In the Army people now say “orientate” instead of the proper “orient”...”We need to orientate the map”...ugh.

[VRW Conspirator]

“Man, you know what I’d do if I was a millionaire?”

The funniest reply that I ever heard to that question was (by a dirty old man):

I would by an acre of boobies and walk in it barefoot.

[Texas Songwriter]

ABSOLUTELY is the most over used word.

BOTTOM LINE is the most overused phrase

[Mopp4]

The phrase “Just sayin” is starting to get on my nerves.

You got that right ! I'm also getting tired of people prefacing everthing they say with "just so you know..." or "i just wanted you to know..."

[wbill]

I *did* use it. Back when I worked for a large, three letter technology-oriented company, and was dramatically unhappy and actively interviewing.

Of course, the same sagely-nodding managers would fall asleep in meetings (we're talking chair-tipped, head-back, snoring and drooling) and all pretty much spoke in buzzwords, anyway. So it might not be a fair comparison.

I was genuinely curious as to how some of the management figured out how to get up, dress themselves, and get to work in the morning. They were that incompetent.

[Joe 6-pack]

"In the Army people now say “orientate” instead of the proper “orient”...”We need to orientate the map”...ugh."

"Orientate" drove me nuts when I first entered the Army, although it is now recognized as a legitimate word, and even John le Carre has used it, I avoid it...much like my other bane, "irregardless."

[Eagle Eye]

Basically....

[Kevmo]

I *did* use it.
***Perhaps you did not notice that I properly used the sarcasm tag. That means that what I write is pretty much the opposite of what I mean. So when freepers write something that another gets offended by, they weasel out and say it was sarcasm. That’s one of my Free Republic pet peeves. I know, maybe a little bit too subtle. Note the absence of a sarcasm tag -—>

[ThomasThomas]

It's overuse is not good.

Think out of the box is also a over used phrase.

[Brett66]

I think “empowerment” needs to be in there somewhere.

[j_tull]

The use of “in lieu of,” when the speaker really means “in view of.” I hear it from local infobabes all the time.

[swift15]

Basically....

You are so quite correct. Very overused.

But, like, I think, like, many questions are, like, answered far too often with “Again...”

[fr_freak]

Don't get it? Plot an x-y graph with time on the horizontal axis and skills acquired on the vertical axis. Now, what does an hard-to master skill look like?

Not to defend this too much, because I know that 99% of the people who use this phrase couldn't graph a function if their lives depended on it (oops, is that an overused phrase?), but I think the phrase originated with the idea that a person has a lot to learn and is allotted a short amount of time to learn it. If you graph that, it is a steep curve.

[fr_freak]

In the Army people now say “orientate” instead of the proper “orient”...”We need to orientate the map”...ugh.

That one drives me nuts, too, but it seems to be gaining acceptance everywhere. I was watching the Planet Earth series the other day and the narrator, David Attenborough, a guy who speaks the Queen's English, used "orientate" that way. I was a bit surprised.