I had a conference call yesterday night with our "core team" to "touch base" on our "POA" for this meeting. The call started at 9 PM and went on till 10:30 PM. And in that 1.5 hrs, the phrase "apple-to-apple comparison" was used atleast 35-40 times!! Had the call gone any further, I think I would have screamed at the next mention of that phrase!!Consulting & IT Services have coined a bunch of jargon we use to evangelize. It is next to impossible to talk to a consultant without hearing one of these "catch phrases". The IT services companies use atleast one these in each and every sales pitch they do.
mission statement, leverage, core competencies, bandwidth, touch base, paradigm shift, take it offline, win-win, think outside the box, brain dump, circle back...
What we don't realize is that prolonged exposure to this jargon makes us very irritant. An article in the Boston Globe points out that the world is wising up to the stale smell lurking behind your fragrant façades. They correspondent feels that we're coming around now to a time of simpler language and clearer communications.
And while doing some research on my increasing contempt for corporate jargon, I came across BullFighter - A software that fights the "bull"! In 2003, Deloitte Consulting developed a new program called Bullfighter that searches documents for jargon and unnecessarily complex language. Once installed, the Bullfighter toolbar appears in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint documents, and works much like the spell check feature. In 2005, Deloitte announced that they are no longer affiliated with Bullfighter software or its support. Current and future Bullfighter versions will continue to be available at http://www.fightthebull.com/bullfighter.asp, free of charge.
I also came across mention of two books... the names sound interesting. Some day I should get around to reading them, I guess.
Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter's Guide
OfficeSpeak: The Win-Win Guide to Touching Base, Getting the Ball Rolling, and Thinking Inside the Box
2 comments:
Hahaha! :) This is so true. Some of the "phrases" are used so often that people actually forget their meanings and use it anywhere any place and worst of all - all the time!!!
so more to add.. the big picture, ball park numbers (??!) and the list goes on..
and by the way, u are not alone in wanting to scream and wring a few necks when hearing these great jargons which have become part of our everyday lives! :)
Have you seen this: http://www.squidoo.com/businesscliches/
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