Weasel words update ...
... and let's kick off with one I considered giving an entire post to itself:
Red-blooded male to mean 'Can't keep it in his pants and doesn't give a rat's who gets hurt'.
And now some more contributions from discriminating commenters:
address and not an envelope in sight
Aussie icon -- see susoz here for details
conquering as applied to mountains; the implication here is that the landscape is your enemy and must be bested. A great deal of second-wave feminist critiqueaddressed itself to engaged with was about the idea of a feminised landscape and masculinist discourse of exploration being couched in implicitly gendered, if not overtly sexual, terms.
desperate bid for...
furore
get some traction as applied to anything but a bogged-in-the-sand/mud situation
impactful
intertextualising esp. when incorrectly used, but 'intertextualise' even in the correct sense is a little bit on the nose as well. I would however go to the wall for 'intertextual'.
issues redux, when specifically used as a euphemism for 'problems'
losing his/her battle with cancer which constructs the processes of one's own body as somehow the Other, an enemy.
obligate -- what's wrong with 'oblige'?
passionate as business-speak, as in 'We are passionate about our clients', a sentence guaranteed to frighten even the most phlegmatic.
stay on task
synergy
they died doing what they loved -- someone somewhere (Crikey? Larvatus Prodeo?) commented after the death of Peter Brock so quickly after that of Steve Irwin (and I'd just like to point out here that the last car Brock had been driving before the one that spun out from under him was called a Stingray; cue X-file music) that Australians had better all stop doing what they love immediately, as it is clearly bad for our health.
(triple) benchmarking -- I can't even begin to imagine what this means. I've always thought 'benchmark' was a stupid word all by itself, but now that it's been verbed (and tripled, apparently) it has become completely meaningless.
More words we like:
friable
omniscient
verve
Red-blooded male to mean 'Can't keep it in his pants and doesn't give a rat's who gets hurt'.
And now some more contributions from discriminating commenters:
address and not an envelope in sight
Aussie icon -- see susoz here for details
conquering as applied to mountains; the implication here is that the landscape is your enemy and must be bested. A great deal of second-wave feminist critique
desperate bid for...
furore
get some traction as applied to anything but a bogged-in-the-sand/mud situation
impactful
intertextualising esp. when incorrectly used, but 'intertextualise' even in the correct sense is a little bit on the nose as well. I would however go to the wall for 'intertextual'.
issues redux, when specifically used as a euphemism for 'problems'
losing his/her battle with cancer which constructs the processes of one's own body as somehow the Other, an enemy.
obligate -- what's wrong with 'oblige'?
passionate as business-speak, as in 'We are passionate about our clients', a sentence guaranteed to frighten even the most phlegmatic.
stay on task
synergy
they died doing what they loved -- someone somewhere (Crikey? Larvatus Prodeo?) commented after the death of Peter Brock so quickly after that of Steve Irwin (and I'd just like to point out here that the last car Brock had been driving before the one that spun out from under him was called a Stingray; cue X-file music) that Australians had better all stop doing what they love immediately, as it is clearly bad for our health.
(triple) benchmarking -- I can't even begin to imagine what this means. I've always thought 'benchmark' was a stupid word all by itself, but now that it's been verbed (and tripled, apparently) it has become completely meaningless.
More words we like:
friable
omniscient
verve
posted by Pavlov's Cat @ 2:34 PM
24 Comments:
At 8:18 PM, September 17, 2006,
FXH said…
People always "bravely" "fight" "battle" cancer with a "positive attitude" and "refuse to give in" even though it's not shown to make any difference.
But one "suffers" from mental illness. And one "endures" the media.
At 8:33 PM, September 17, 2006,
shula said…
For me it's more about losing in the battle with cancer thing. How about the fact that they stayed alive as long as they did? How is that a loss? And such a cliche, people say it because they're too lazy to make something up themselves. Makes me crazy every time I hear it.
I love the word 'dumpling'. I'd eat a red-blooded weasel, if someone could convince me it was a dumpling.
At 6:06 AM, September 18, 2006,
Lucy Sussex said…
I just had a go at Hachette Livre for saying they were passionate about book X, which they then compared to the Brontes. Said after that I fully expected a stinker...
And if you really want to annoy someone who has just dropped 'intertextualise' ever-so-idly into the conversation, tell them the synonym is 'fan fiction'.
Lucy
At 9:34 AM, September 18, 2006,
BK said…
has anyone else noticed (while we're in a morbid mood) that all academic suicides are 'brilliant'?
At 10:42 AM, September 18, 2006,
Armagnac Esq. said…
Largely agree, however with regards to conquering, I personally feel that 'discourse' can be one of the worst weasel words.
At 11:39 AM, September 18, 2006,
Pavlov's Cat said…
Ah, but I'm a literary critic so that is just my professional vocaubulary speaking. I feel the same way about legal jargon (and medical, and most of all IT) as you do about lit crit jargon!
At 2:50 PM, September 18, 2006,
Helen said…
I liked (if that's the right word) the Leunig cartoon showing a corpse-littered landscape in Lebanon, with the caption:
"Well, at least he died doing what he loved."
"Yes... living peacefully and raising his family."
It just underlines the real meaninglessness of that cliche.
At 4:55 PM, September 18, 2006,
Galaxy said…
I hate the managerial-speak use of 'passionate' as well, to say nothing of its use by Australian Idol auditionees.
For me, 'address' as in 'mode of address' is akin to PC's use of 'discourse'. I use that one too, in a Cultural Studies way.
I'm fond of 'cicatrice'.
A bit off topic, but I had a nice moment today when reading an essay. The student wrote 'ethically diverse', when she meant to say 'ethnically diverse'. I've been thinking about the ethically diverse character of Heartbreak High ever since.
At 7:48 PM, September 18, 2006,
comicstriphero said…
How about 'oversighting', for when you just couldn't be bothered overseeing things?
At 7:54 PM, September 18, 2006,
Pavlov's Cat said…
Closely related to undersighting is the opposite of overview, as in 'I think I'm underviewing this.'
I too love cicatrice. I thought for years that it was something to do with cockroaches, and to this day have not entirely disburdened myself of this notion.
Shula, that recipe for golden syrup dumplings over at your place is TO DIE FOR. I remember your dad's column, too.
At 8:38 PM, September 18, 2006,
Georg said…
Another one from the IT world: deliverables. you know, those things we actually have to do. Closely related to 'outcomes' I believe.
At 6:48 AM, September 19, 2006,
Amanda said…
Mark Vaile introduced a new word to me last night: catalyising.
"It will have a catalysing influence in precipitating an outcome, eventually."
At 9:39 AM, September 19, 2006,
Pavlov's Cat said…
If I remember my high school science correctly, this one is rather clever in one respect. In its literal meaning, doesn't a catalyst produce (in some cases) precipitation?
At 9:40 AM, September 19, 2006,
Georg said…
Sort of related but this is quite good: Truth in advertising
http://www.scaryideas.com/Videos/TruthInAdvertising/
At 12:05 PM, September 19, 2006,
BK said…
A catalyst is something that aids or enhances a reaction but does not itself take part as a substrate or product (i.e. it doesn't get used up) in that reaction.
'Precipitation' of course is either rain (etc.) or a foul mess in the bottom of a test tube.
At 12:12 PM, September 19, 2006,
Pavlov's Cat said…
Yes, I was thinking of reaction enhancement followed by foul mess etc.
At 11:35 PM, September 19, 2006,
shula said…
You remember Dad's column? Wow! I lost more than one job over that column. People always thought I must be a right wing plant, no matter how heartily I sang from the Red Song Book. So much for a career in the unions. Never mind.
So glad you liked the dumplings (mmmm, dumplings). Cookery the Australian Way. Bet you remember that, too.
At 9:16 AM, September 20, 2006,
hasarder said…
'They died doing what they loved' is one of my most hated phrases.
It seems to ignore how they died, or imply that they loved dying.
It always makes me think of that poor kid who was eaten by a shark a couple of years ago at West Beach. Apparently he loved being ripped to shreds by a shark, because that's what he was doing when he died...
I've begged my Partner not to let anyone use that phrase about me when I die.
At 10:00 AM, September 20, 2006,
Miss Tickle said…
I've always considered an "oversight" as a bad thing, like you weren't doing it very well... so I get a bit nervous when people say they expect someone to provide some "oversight" on a project...
At 5:15 PM, September 21, 2006,
Nige said…
As a scientist who now works in marketing ... as a writer, I have a ton of these:
Spend (as a noun)
Run it by me (without Nikes)
Low revenue generators (meaning senior managers)
Action (as a verb, a noun AND as an adjective [see below])
Action point (something that needs to be done)
Key opinion leader (a doctor)
Strategic (when used to describe just about anything, for instance "strategic coffee procurement" to mean "getting a brew")
Procurement (as a verb to mean buying stuff and as a noun to mean a whole department of bastards)
Impact (need I say more on that one)
Pharmacokinetics (no, the drug has pharmacokinetic characteristics, lazy boy)
I could go on forever. So I'll stop.
At 8:43 PM, September 21, 2006,
BK said…
Strategic (when used to describe just about anything, for instance "strategic coffee procurement" to mean "getting a brew")
Bloody marketeers. That is so obviously a tactical manoeuvre.
strategic coffee procurement is choosing which poor bastard has to go get the beans and then carry the can for selecting the wrong type.
At 11:37 AM, September 22, 2006,
Ariel said…
Here's a good 'strategic' one I just heard: 'Strategically realigned' as a euphemism for a company takeover.
eg. 'Fairfax was strategically realigned with PBL after the new cross-media ownership laws were passed'.
At 10:26 PM, September 25, 2006,
ThirdCat said…
I just remembered the worsest of them all: drill down. When there is no mine involved.
At 8:41 PM, September 27, 2006,
BK said…
The Monash gazette has its tongue firmly in cheek with
I am confident that we can brand impactful funtionalities and seize collaborative deliverables from this partnership
(via Snitch)
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