8 ms·

As someone not in the corporate world, I'd love to see more examples of bullshit speak. What are some "favorites" from the HN crowd?

serpix 9y ago
all the words from scrum: Standups, sprint, dailies, retrospectives, epics, tasks..
throwaway287391 9y ago
"Learnings" makes me cringe. Why is it a thing? "Lessons" is a perfectly good word. (Edit: see HN examples at https://hn.algolia.com/?query=learnings&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?query=learnings&sort=byPopularity&pr...)
11thEarlOfMar 9y ago
Many are mentioned in the article. One I particularly loathe is 'reaching out'. In my generation, 'reaching out' is what someone with a serious drug or alcohol dependency did when they hit rock bottom and it was either get help or die. I cringe, I cringe.... A few years ago, it was 'at the end of the day', which my boss said 42 times in one 60 minute meeting. Yes, 42. I counted.
- phnofive 9y ago
  This one I struggled with. What's the alternative to 'reaching out' in the context of sending a message to a third party?
  - 11thEarlOfMar 9y ago
    Call, e-mail, text or otherwise contact them. 'Can you call Bob's surf shop and see if they carry Mr. Zog's Sex Wax?'
    - albertgoeswoof 9y ago
      The reason reach out is used is to give the individual being asked some autonomy / responsibility in the action. Eg if you ask someone to call bobs surf shop and they don’t answer they might stop there or call back later. If you ask them to reach out they might go down there and see them, set up a meeting, speak to a friend that works there, etc.
      - userbinator 9y ago
        If you ask them to reach out they might go down there and see them, set up a meeting, speak to a friend that works there, etc. That's where you can use the more general and succinct term, "contact".
        fjsolwmv 9y ago
        Only if you like using words incorrectly. "Contact" isn't a verb if you really are the pedantic prescriptivist you are presenting yourself as.
        Intermernet 9y ago
        Both Wiktionary and dictionary.com list definitions of "contact" as a verb. I don't have access to the OED at the moment, but I assume they would have it listed as a valid verb as well.
    - phnofive 9y ago
      Those are specific forms of reaching out. Contact is different but not any more efficient IMO, so I guess we will have to agree to disagree. If I had to direct someone to look into it, I might say -- 'Please find out if Bob's surf shop carries Mr. Zog's Sex Wax.' A few of the terms in the header image on the article seem perfectly appropriate to me depending on context, but I'm probably thinking of them being used literally (reaching out as in contacting, incentivising as in more money paid, deep dive as in RCA) and have insufficient exposure to the BS versions to comment - so, I'll stop!
  - yesiamyourdad 9y ago
    "ask" ? "can you reach out to Carol and see when that will be done" vs "can you ask Carol when that will be done?" Ever since Walking Dead came out, "reach out" evokes thoughts of hordes of zombies grabbing for me.
  - pwython 9y ago
    "Get in touch" could be an alternative. Careful though, don't turn it into a "touch base!"
- drb91 9y ago
  I use at the end of the day; it’s a meaningless verbal tic, less something you could, erm, justify in a business context. Annoying? Oh yea. But what is wrong with reaching out? Seems like a different way of phrasing “make contact with”, except with a connotation of intending to help.
  - pwython 9y ago
    At the end of the day, all of these phrases aren't that bad, as long as you don't overuse them. eg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAaWrdMf-j0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAaWrdMf-j0
  - Jedd 9y ago
    I eschew 'reaching out'. It can be replaced by more honest and/or accurate terms. The big problem is that it is part of the problem - people that use this phrase tend to use other occluding language. And people that speak or write that way - as per TFA - tend to do it a lot. Btw, 'intending to help' I don't think is implied. Naturally you may 'reach out' to provide or offer assistance, but in a business context there should be a business driver for doing the actual contact thing, and then you can choose to specify the context or not.
- userbinator 9y ago
  I haven't heard "reaching out" all that often, but the one that makes me cringe is "moving/going/looking forward." I once heard my boss use it 3 times in one sentence (it was something like "going forward, we'll ... and going forward, ... to set expectations going forward.") The surreal experience was further enhanced by the fact that none of the 6 others in the same meeting even seemed to notice or find it unusual.
  - ZenoArrow 9y ago
    Aside from overuse in that example you gave, what's the issue you have with "going forward"? I use language along these lines, often after talking about an issue, as a way of steering the conversation onto solutions. In my experience, it can be a useful phrase.
- interfixus 9y ago
  Thank you. I imagined I was all alone in my abhorrence of reaching out.
- marcodave 9y ago
  > "at the end of the day" there are manager bullshit and verbal tics like the one you mentioned. I tend(ed) to use "long story short..." to force myself to summarize, but when a colleague of mine started to use it over 3 times in a single sentence, I've since stopped using it.
rhizome 9y ago
http://dack.com/web/bullshit.html http://dack.com/web/bullshit.html
sailfast 9y ago
- "Synergy" is the archetypal word that wasn't even brought up in the article. - "Cross-functional" - "Ping" - "Green Field" - "ROI" (this actually means something specific, but it's often mis-used to imply something like 'overall value') - "MVP" (this actually means something but has now been co-opted to sound agile while meaning 'the thing we're willing to release to users and keep our pride') - "A matrixed organization" - "Get everyone on the same page" - "Stakeholders" ... many others...
- ubersoldat2k7 9y ago
  Ah! MVP has lost any meaning. Better use PoC (proof of concept) because an MVP is just a finished product with all the bells and whistles because "product management" wants it all
- ucaetano 9y ago
  Again, those only seem like that because you dont understand them: - Synergy: explained in my other post - Stakeholders: anyone who holds any power over a decision, even if it isn't formal power - Everyone on the same page: make sure that everyone has the right context and knows all the important facts to date - ROI: how much bang you're getting for the buck - Green Field: building from scratch, without using existing infrastructure (as building a factory on a Green Field), compare to brown field (using existing infrastructure) - Cross functional: when you're working with engineers and lawyers, aka, people who will absolutely never understand each other Sure, you could use long phrases to replace any of those, but what's the point? Don't be confused, ask what it is :)
  - mLuby 9y ago
    Good explanations. However having to ask indicates these phrases communicate poorly. (This obfuscation, as the article states, is intentional.) Instead of "green field", for example, call the project "brand new" or "from scratch". There's no need to concoct additional synonyms in a language that already has so many. Further reading: - Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" - Musk's "Acronyms Seriously Suck"
albertgoeswoof 9y ago
Suggest we take this offline and align first before we come back to you by COB today. Don’t want to boil the ocean, as per my earlier comment.
notfromhere 9y ago
never-ending sales strategy changes that can be summed up as "explain the product to the right people and ask for money".
fleetwood 9y ago
We have too many to count, but some of my favorites: -Kabuki Dance -Coal Face -KT (Knowledge Transfer) -Across the Piece -And my personal Rockstar: Like Putting Socks on an Octopus Our HR group actually put together a wonderful "Leadership" website complete with a "Leadership Handbook" (Buzzword Dictionary). Of course, it's hidden on an obscure sub-site and is unsearchable. I've never met anyone else who's actually seen this site or handbook, but it's been fun for me!
- vadimberman 9y ago
  Ah yes, the knowledge transfer! Two wires running from one person's brain to another, "Battlefield Earth" style. To be fair though, it is straightforward to understand what it means. On the other hand, it took me a while to adjust to "throw under the bus", "rounding error" (a small amount of money), and "up to one's eyeballs". "Putting socks on an octopus" helped me find a buzzword dictionary online: http://www.theofficelife.com/business-jargon-dictionary-P.html http://www.theofficelife.com/business-jargon-dictionary-P.ht...
subpixel 9y ago
I suggest watching the clips of meeting scenes from the BBC show W1A: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=w1a+meeting https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=w1a+meeting
- personlurking 9y ago
  I hadn't heard of this show before reading the article and aim to watch it. Thanks
- isostatic 9y ago
  That show isn't a documentary. It's far too watered down.
0xcde4c3db 9y ago
Kaizen terms used in teams or organizations where kaizen is definitely not being practiced as a general philosophy. At a previous employer, the only time anyone ever actually used the word kaizen was to describe management being tied up in day-long meetings debating the nature or source of some problem.
chiph 9y ago
"Ask" as a noun.
j_b_s 9y ago
We don't want to do it unless it's going to move the needle.
monch1962 9y ago
To someone who isn't in the corporate world, the job title "agile coach" is about as bullshit as anything out there. People in this role are actually paid to walk around inside an organisation, finding things that aren't sufficiently 'agile' and coaching people on how to make them 'agile'. Concrete deliverables=none, ability to measure success=none, ability to achieve any actual tangible outcome whatsoever=none, ability to invoke apparently-meaningful-yet-utterly-irrelevant anecdotes=infinite. 'Experts' in this field are highly in demand, and held in fear &/or awe at many corporates.
c3534l 9y ago
I applied once as an intern to a company that "offered innovate solutions" to "deliver value to customers." At no point on their entire website did they use the phrase "PR Firm." Turns out no one thought to mention that on the website. Apparently they specialized in public figures who got into scandals, which is actually super interesting and I might have done better at the interview if I had known what the fuck they did.
gist 9y ago
> What are some "favorites" I will leave that to others, but one thing I will say is that having been around the business world since the early 80's I can typically date someone just by hearing what expressions and bullshit they use. Anything that we didn't use in the 80's appears strange to hear. For example back then we didn't use 'circle back' (and now I can't even remember what we used for that I think it was simply 'I wanted to get back in touch with you'..) And yes I know circle back has been around for a long time (could even have been late 80's or early 90's).
dirtybird04 9y ago
A former boss once scheduled a meeting to discuss another meeting later that day. The subject of the meeting was "Pre-meeting discussion".
- amiga-workbench 9y ago
  Have these people never heard of an agenda?
  - gonzo41 9y ago
    I've seen this done where you want a 10 min meeting to get all the developers on the same wavelength before a meeting with the business so everyone will contribute in way that will drive a point forward. Usually this is when moving through security checkpoints for new features / systems. Kind of like going through TSA "nobody make any jokes I don't want to have to spend hours here explaining this."
Finnucane 9y ago
At work we are now prohibited from using ‘space’ as a vague term for business, industry, market, or profession. Personally, I find the use of ‘architecting’ instead of ‘design’ to be particularly irritating.
tannhaeuser 9y ago
The worst I've seen so far are posters with mindless and vulgar motivation propaganda such as "Bullshit-free Zone" and "Get Shit Done" [1]. These seem to be popular with a customer of mine who went all-in on SCRUM last year (believe me, you haven't seen anything yet if you haven't worked in a German team throwing around everyday or pseudo English terms in an attempt to appear cool). [1]: https://www.startupvitamins.com/ https://www.startupvitamins.com/
- posterboy 9y ago
  if I may chime in on the last bit, because I sensesed a sense hostility > pseudo english terms isn't that just the english language? A mix of norse, french, latin, alotta patoise and irish and ... just sudo english
  - berbec 9y ago
    > sudo english This inspired me: I'm am now renaming /bin/sudo to /bin/pseudo
  - tannhaeuser 9y ago
    It probably is, but there are pseudo-English idioms in use that just hurt. For example, "public viewing" is used in German for featuring sports events on large screens in the public, "handy" is used for mobiles, etc. See https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/40586/why-do-germans-invent-english-words-for-themselves https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/40586/why-do-germ... for a discussion about this phenomenon.
    - posterboy 9y ago
      He, I think we just find it super cold like but not quite (ie cool) to copy from our thought leaders.
vadimberman 9y ago
My "favourite" is "re-imagining". For example, "reimagining customer service", as in, complementing 20yo kids hired for peanuts offshore with bloated and expensive contact centre software.
jibberia 9y ago
I have a new favorite sentence for the ones I've heard lately: "There's a world where there's a solve for that ask." "There's a world where..." replaces "Imagine if..." or "It's possible that...", and I think it's actually a neat way of presenting an idea -- if used very sparingly. "Solve" and "ask", in this context, replace the words "solution" and "request". I'm not sure how people started abusing these words, but it's pervasive in my industry. I suspect it follows the recent trend of "nouning" verbs (a reverse-Calvin thing to do: https://i.imgur.com/l5AC4qG.jpg https://i.imgur.com/l5AC4qG.jpg) like using "gift" as an action verb ("they gifted me a calendar"). I can understand that because there isn't an equivalent alternative word in English. We could just say "give", but it doesn't have the same meaning as "give as a gift". "Solve" and "ask" are nouns that already have suitable traditional words to use instead!
garganzol 9y ago
For me, the "favorites" are "engage" and "socialize". As a fresh example, Microsoft "engaged" with open-source community to the point they almost drove .NET into the ground. They "socialized" with crowds via GitHub while doing really stupid things like platform segmentation, misrepresenting alpha-quality releases as production-ready ones etc.

serpix 9y ago

all the words from scrum: Standups, sprint, dailies, retrospectives, epics, tasks..

throwaway287391 9y ago

"Learnings" makes me cringe. Why is it a thing? "Lessons" is a perfectly good word. (Edit: see HN examples at https://hn.algolia.com/?query=learnings&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?query=learnings&sort=byPopularity&pr...)

11thEarlOfMar 9y ago

Many are mentioned in the article. One I particularly loathe is 'reaching out'. In my generation, 'reaching out' is what someone with a serious drug or alcohol dependency did when they hit rock bottom and it was either get help or die. I cringe, I cringe.... A few years ago, it was 'at the end of the day', which my boss said 42 times in one 60 minute meeting. Yes, 42. I counted.

phnofive 9y ago
This one I struggled with. What's the alternative to 'reaching out' in the context of sending a message to a third party?
- 11thEarlOfMar 9y ago
  Call, e-mail, text or otherwise contact them. 'Can you call Bob's surf shop and see if they carry Mr. Zog's Sex Wax?'
  - albertgoeswoof 9y ago
    The reason reach out is used is to give the individual being asked some autonomy / responsibility in the action. Eg if you ask someone to call bobs surf shop and they don’t answer they might stop there or call back later. If you ask them to reach out they might go down there and see them, set up a meeting, speak to a friend that works there, etc.
    - userbinator 9y ago
      If you ask them to reach out they might go down there and see them, set up a meeting, speak to a friend that works there, etc. That's where you can use the more general and succinct term, "contact".
      - fjsolwmv 9y ago
        Only if you like using words incorrectly. "Contact" isn't a verb if you really are the pedantic prescriptivist you are presenting yourself as.
        Intermernet 9y ago
        Both Wiktionary and dictionary.com list definitions of "contact" as a verb. I don't have access to the OED at the moment, but I assume they would have it listed as a valid verb as well.
  - phnofive 9y ago
    Those are specific forms of reaching out. Contact is different but not any more efficient IMO, so I guess we will have to agree to disagree. If I had to direct someone to look into it, I might say -- 'Please find out if Bob's surf shop carries Mr. Zog's Sex Wax.' A few of the terms in the header image on the article seem perfectly appropriate to me depending on context, but I'm probably thinking of them being used literally (reaching out as in contacting, incentivising as in more money paid, deep dive as in RCA) and have insufficient exposure to the BS versions to comment - so, I'll stop!
- yesiamyourdad 9y ago
  "ask" ? "can you reach out to Carol and see when that will be done" vs "can you ask Carol when that will be done?" Ever since Walking Dead came out, "reach out" evokes thoughts of hordes of zombies grabbing for me.
- pwython 9y ago
  "Get in touch" could be an alternative. Careful though, don't turn it into a "touch base!"
drb91 9y ago
I use at the end of the day; it’s a meaningless verbal tic, less something you could, erm, justify in a business context. Annoying? Oh yea. But what is wrong with reaching out? Seems like a different way of phrasing “make contact with”, except with a connotation of intending to help.
- pwython 9y ago
  At the end of the day, all of these phrases aren't that bad, as long as you don't overuse them. eg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAaWrdMf-j0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAaWrdMf-j0
- Jedd 9y ago
  I eschew 'reaching out'. It can be replaced by more honest and/or accurate terms. The big problem is that it is part of the problem - people that use this phrase tend to use other occluding language. And people that speak or write that way - as per TFA - tend to do it a lot. Btw, 'intending to help' I don't think is implied. Naturally you may 'reach out' to provide or offer assistance, but in a business context there should be a business driver for doing the actual contact thing, and then you can choose to specify the context or not.
userbinator 9y ago
I haven't heard "reaching out" all that often, but the one that makes me cringe is "moving/going/looking forward." I once heard my boss use it 3 times in one sentence (it was something like "going forward, we'll ... and going forward, ... to set expectations going forward.") The surreal experience was further enhanced by the fact that none of the 6 others in the same meeting even seemed to notice or find it unusual.
- ZenoArrow 9y ago
  Aside from overuse in that example you gave, what's the issue you have with "going forward"? I use language along these lines, often after talking about an issue, as a way of steering the conversation onto solutions. In my experience, it can be a useful phrase.
interfixus 9y ago
Thank you. I imagined I was all alone in my abhorrence of reaching out.
marcodave 9y ago
> "at the end of the day" there are manager bullshit and verbal tics like the one you mentioned. I tend(ed) to use "long story short..." to force myself to summarize, but when a colleague of mine started to use it over 3 times in a single sentence, I've since stopped using it.

rhizome 9y ago

http://dack.com/web/bullshit.html http://dack.com/web/bullshit.html

sailfast 9y ago

- "Synergy" is the archetypal word that wasn't even brought up in the article. - "Cross-functional" - "Ping" - "Green Field" - "ROI" (this actually means something specific, but it's often mis-used to imply something like 'overall value') - "MVP" (this actually means something but has now been co-opted to sound agile while meaning 'the thing we're willing to release to users and keep our pride') - "A matrixed organization" - "Get everyone on the same page" - "Stakeholders" ... many others...

ubersoldat2k7 9y ago
Ah! MVP has lost any meaning. Better use PoC (proof of concept) because an MVP is just a finished product with all the bells and whistles because "product management" wants it all
ucaetano 9y ago
Again, those only seem like that because you dont understand them: - Synergy: explained in my other post - Stakeholders: anyone who holds any power over a decision, even if it isn't formal power - Everyone on the same page: make sure that everyone has the right context and knows all the important facts to date - ROI: how much bang you're getting for the buck - Green Field: building from scratch, without using existing infrastructure (as building a factory on a Green Field), compare to brown field (using existing infrastructure) - Cross functional: when you're working with engineers and lawyers, aka, people who will absolutely never understand each other Sure, you could use long phrases to replace any of those, but what's the point? Don't be confused, ask what it is :)
- mLuby 9y ago
  Good explanations. However having to ask indicates these phrases communicate poorly. (This obfuscation, as the article states, is intentional.) Instead of "green field", for example, call the project "brand new" or "from scratch". There's no need to concoct additional synonyms in a language that already has so many. Further reading: - Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" - Musk's "Acronyms Seriously Suck"

albertgoeswoof 9y ago

Suggest we take this offline and align first before we come back to you by COB today. Don’t want to boil the ocean, as per my earlier comment.

notfromhere 9y ago

never-ending sales strategy changes that can be summed up as "explain the product to the right people and ask for money".

fleetwood 9y ago

We have too many to count, but some of my favorites: -Kabuki Dance -Coal Face -KT (Knowledge Transfer) -Across the Piece -And my personal Rockstar: Like Putting Socks on an Octopus Our HR group actually put together a wonderful "Leadership" website complete with a "Leadership Handbook" (Buzzword Dictionary). Of course, it's hidden on an obscure sub-site and is unsearchable. I've never met anyone else who's actually seen this site or handbook, but it's been fun for me!

vadimberman 9y ago
Ah yes, the knowledge transfer! Two wires running from one person's brain to another, "Battlefield Earth" style. To be fair though, it is straightforward to understand what it means. On the other hand, it took me a while to adjust to "throw under the bus", "rounding error" (a small amount of money), and "up to one's eyeballs". "Putting socks on an octopus" helped me find a buzzword dictionary online: http://www.theofficelife.com/business-jargon-dictionary-P.html http://www.theofficelife.com/business-jargon-dictionary-P.ht...

subpixel 9y ago

I suggest watching the clips of meeting scenes from the BBC show W1A: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=w1a+meeting https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=w1a+meeting

personlurking 9y ago
I hadn't heard of this show before reading the article and aim to watch it. Thanks
isostatic 9y ago
That show isn't a documentary. It's far too watered down.

0xcde4c3db 9y ago

Kaizen terms used in teams or organizations where kaizen is definitely not being practiced as a general philosophy. At a previous employer, the only time anyone ever actually used the word kaizen was to describe management being tied up in day-long meetings debating the nature or source of some problem.

chiph 9y ago

"Ask" as a noun.

j_b_s 9y ago

We don't want to do it unless it's going to move the needle.

monch1962 9y ago

To someone who isn't in the corporate world, the job title "agile coach" is about as bullshit as anything out there. People in this role are actually paid to walk around inside an organisation, finding things that aren't sufficiently 'agile' and coaching people on how to make them 'agile'. Concrete deliverables=none, ability to measure success=none, ability to achieve any actual tangible outcome whatsoever=none, ability to invoke apparently-meaningful-yet-utterly-irrelevant anecdotes=infinite. 'Experts' in this field are highly in demand, and held in fear &/or awe at many corporates.

c3534l 9y ago

I applied once as an intern to a company that "offered innovate solutions" to "deliver value to customers." At no point on their entire website did they use the phrase "PR Firm." Turns out no one thought to mention that on the website. Apparently they specialized in public figures who got into scandals, which is actually super interesting and I might have done better at the interview if I had known what the fuck they did.

gist 9y ago

> What are some "favorites" I will leave that to others, but one thing I will say is that having been around the business world since the early 80's I can typically date someone just by hearing what expressions and bullshit they use. Anything that we didn't use in the 80's appears strange to hear. For example back then we didn't use 'circle back' (and now I can't even remember what we used for that I think it was simply 'I wanted to get back in touch with you'..) And yes I know circle back has been around for a long time (could even have been late 80's or early 90's).

dirtybird04 9y ago

A former boss once scheduled a meeting to discuss another meeting later that day. The subject of the meeting was "Pre-meeting discussion".

amiga-workbench 9y ago
Have these people never heard of an agenda?
- gonzo41 9y ago
  I've seen this done where you want a 10 min meeting to get all the developers on the same wavelength before a meeting with the business so everyone will contribute in way that will drive a point forward. Usually this is when moving through security checkpoints for new features / systems. Kind of like going through TSA "nobody make any jokes I don't want to have to spend hours here explaining this."

Finnucane 9y ago

At work we are now prohibited from using ‘space’ as a vague term for business, industry, market, or profession. Personally, I find the use of ‘architecting’ instead of ‘design’ to be particularly irritating.

tannhaeuser 9y ago

The worst I've seen so far are posters with mindless and vulgar motivation propaganda such as "Bullshit-free Zone" and "Get Shit Done" [1]. These seem to be popular with a customer of mine who went all-in on SCRUM last year (believe me, you haven't seen anything yet if you haven't worked in a German team throwing around everyday or pseudo English terms in an attempt to appear cool). [1]: https://www.startupvitamins.com/ https://www.startupvitamins.com/

posterboy 9y ago
if I may chime in on the last bit, because I sensesed a sense hostility > pseudo english terms isn't that just the english language? A mix of norse, french, latin, alotta patoise and irish and ... just sudo english
- berbec 9y ago
  > sudo english This inspired me: I'm am now renaming /bin/sudo to /bin/pseudo
- tannhaeuser 9y ago
  It probably is, but there are pseudo-English idioms in use that just hurt. For example, "public viewing" is used in German for featuring sports events on large screens in the public, "handy" is used for mobiles, etc. See https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/40586/why-do-germans-invent-english-words-for-themselves https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/40586/why-do-germ... for a discussion about this phenomenon.
  - posterboy 9y ago
    He, I think we just find it super cold like but not quite (ie cool) to copy from our thought leaders.

vadimberman 9y ago

My "favourite" is "re-imagining". For example, "reimagining customer service", as in, complementing 20yo kids hired for peanuts offshore with bloated and expensive contact centre software.

jibberia 9y ago

I have a new favorite sentence for the ones I've heard lately: "There's a world where there's a solve for that ask." "There's a world where..." replaces "Imagine if..." or "It's possible that...", and I think it's actually a neat way of presenting an idea -- if used very sparingly. "Solve" and "ask", in this context, replace the words "solution" and "request". I'm not sure how people started abusing these words, but it's pervasive in my industry. I suspect it follows the recent trend of "nouning" verbs (a reverse-Calvin thing to do: https://i.imgur.com/l5AC4qG.jpg https://i.imgur.com/l5AC4qG.jpg) like using "gift" as an action verb ("they gifted me a calendar"). I can understand that because there isn't an equivalent alternative word in English. We could just say "give", but it doesn't have the same meaning as "give as a gift". "Solve" and "ask" are nouns that already have suitable traditional words to use instead!

garganzol 9y ago

For me, the "favorites" are "engage" and "socialize". As a fresh example, Microsoft "engaged" with open-source community to the point they almost drove .NET into the ground. They "socialized" with crowds via GitHub while doing really stupid things like platform segmentation, misrepresenting alpha-quality releases as production-ready ones etc.