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In Australia we adopt American corporatisms with unnerving eagerness. Historically there's been a lag as corporate types discovered, and then experimented in t
by Jedd 6y ago
In Australia we adopt American corporatisms with unnerving eagerness. Historically there's been a lag as corporate types discovered, and then experimented in the domestic environment, before common adoption here.
That lag has significantly reduced over the past couple of decades, but hasn't vanished -- so like an ineluctable tide of horrendousness coming in, we can often see these unpleasantries from a good way off.
Most corporate jargon is harmless, some can even be funny, but some are just unreasonably offensive. At the top of my current fingers-down-a-chalkboard list is 'reach out'. It's penetrated pop culture more than most corporate buzzphrases, so it's increasingly hard to avoid hearing.
On the upside, the previous #1 item was 'pre-plan' (and the much less common but way more invigorating variant 'pre-prepare'), and thankfully those seem to have mostly returned from whence they came.
- pmiller2 6y agoOh, God. Whenever anyone says they'll "reach out," or they want me to do so, rather than "contact," "call," "email," "Slack," "message," etc. someone, that is the absolute worst. Probably my second least favorite is "utilize" instead of "use." Seriously, why use a 3 syllable word when a perfectly good 1 syllable word ("use") exists and means almost literally the same thing?
- lotsofpulp 6y agoI like when “leverage” is used instead of “use”.
- pmiller2 6y agoSomehow, "leverage" bothers me a lot less than "utilize." I guess it's because "leverage" has connotations beyond what "utilize" carries, i.e. it doesn't mean literally the same thing as "use."
- iamtedd 6y agoEveryone that uses the word "learnings" needs to be arrested.
- 0xfaded 6y agoThe film "Canadian Bacon" has a (subjectively) hilarious scene where one Canadian Mountie corrects another for using "return from whence you came" instead of "return whence you came". But alas, it seems "from whence" has been in established use since the 1800s. https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/is-from-whence-wrong https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/is-from-whence...
- Jedd 6y agoOh, thank you for the heads-up. I'm moderately happy with 1800s onwards -- but would be absolutely delighted to a adopt an earlier, more legitimate (prestigious? : ) form. (Earlier today I briefly railed at someone on a podcast uttering 'a myriad of'.)