Buzzwords and jargon. Every industry has them. As with all things ubiquitous, they have their devotees and their detractors. Some of these signifiers of insider-dom don’t start out as buzzspeak, but as meaningful, dare I say forward-thinking, tidbits designed to serve as short-hand for the inside elite. Others bubble up from pop culture to infiltrate even the most staid business environment.

Why do we do this? In most cases, buzzwords and jargon serve as entrée into the in-crowd, to show that you can talk the talk (whether you are in junior high or the corner office). In some cases, they are a way to establish superiority (see again junior high and the corner office). In the advertising and marketing business, buzzwords are sometimes used so that people can appear to be more witty and creative than “the suits.” Many grammar pundits are pointing fingers at communication vehicles like instant messaging, e-mail and text messaging for proliferating shorthand.

Poking fun at buzzwords is nothing new, of course. Scott Adams, in his “Dilbert” cartoon, showed us “buzzword bingo” years ago to help us make light of the mind-numbing corporate-speak we are often forced to endure during endless, repetitive meetings. Decades ago, advertising pioneer David Ogilvy said, “Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon.”

For those of you who haven’t yet played, buzzword bingo is a business game featuring a bingo card filled with buzzwords rather than the traditional letters and numbers. At one interactive shop where I worked, if someone got bingo on their card during a meeting, the meeting was over, no questions asked. During the dot-com boom, buzzword bingo took on near-legendary proportions as buzzspeak careened out of control.

Being in the marketing and advertising field, I have to take a bullet for my compatriots foisting upon us some of the most egregious inflictions of both buzzwords and just plain bad writing. Advertising is rife with it—from “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should” to “Think different.”

Buzzwords that defy logic or rules of grammar seem to be promulgating. The phenomenon of verbing or “verbifying” is gaining speed with the strengthening economy, leading otherwise educated and/or erudite people to speak of “officing” downtown or “incentivizing” their employees.

A Calvin and Hobbes cartoon of several years ago does a better job than I could of commenting on this:

Calvin: I like to verb words.
Hobbes: What?
Calvin: I take nouns and adjectives and use them as verbs. Remember when "access" was a thing? Now, it's something you do. It got verbed. Verbing weirds language.
Hobbes: Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding.

From a 50,000-foot view, buzzwords can serve a purpose. The real danger, as Hobbes saliently observed, is that using jargon can obfuscate the obvious. These days, in what is becoming a truly global culture, clarity takes on greater urgency and value. Will conversations liberally salted with international phrases take on a cachet to rival, “You’re fired!” or “getting everyone on board,” even in a highly Americanized world?

One of the beautiful things about language is that it is alive. It changes over time. Sometimes, language changes help make communication richer and more vivid. At other times, the changes make us less precise and seem to hamper understanding. Instead of facilitating quick understanding, too many buzzwords these days seem to be more focused on trendy slanguage.

As in all things trendy, using buzzwords that are so five minutes ago will mark you as being hopelessly passé. E-anything springs to mind, as does the New Economy vocabulary that speaks of monetizing eyeballs, or outmoded pop culture references such as voting someone off the island. Old school or retro phrases, however, can make you seem charmingly offbeat. In the right circles, Speed Racer or Brady Bunch references can make you a star.

You have probably noticed that I have made liberal use of buzzwords, jargon and slang throughout this article. I would love to hear some of your favorite—or least favorite—buzzwords and jargon. E-mail your favorites to me and we will select some of the best for inclusion in the next issue of The Inkling. Who knows, by singing from the same songbook, we may be able to finally leverage our symbiotic alliance to achieve maximum ROI in the enterprise space.

Handy URLs:

Make-Your-Own Buzzword Bingo Cards

The Buzzword-Compliant Dictionary

Monster Blog - Top 10 Buzzwords Better Left in 2004

Brand Mantra Blog – In Defense of Buzzwords

25 Hot Buzzwords