Talk to the Hand, Part Dos

Once again, readers around the world had their own additions to the list of words they think should be expunged from our writing. Some people feel very strongly about them!  From mike: The compulsion for people or organizations to refer to themselves as "leading" is generally quite absurd, but there's one that gets me even more: Every time I see the word "leverage" – unless its in the context of physics – I throw up a little in my mouth. From Robert: Maximized / maximum From Virginia: horrific From Lisa: Ugh - leverage. And "monetize." That one really gets under my skin. From Veronica: Synergistic and its root, synergy, are the ones that make me gag the most. I have a client who leans on them and it drives me nuts. Plus, both words always remind me of the 1980s cartoon Jem, in which the main characters, an all-girl rock band, frequently said "Showtime, Synergy!" It definitely makes it harder to take seriously and documents that include those words. From mochalala: What I've been wondering about lately is the new (over)use of the phrases "speak to," as in "I can speak to that" and "cover off," as in "I think I've covered off answers to all of your questions." Where did this come from? I'd never heard it before I started working with a big company. From trollop23: micro and macro anything drive me crazy. From Suchitra: May I take the liberty of adding "end-to-end" to your list? I think it is one of the most abused words in this part of the world. (Asia Pacific) From ben: The ones I have banned from my startup company are: "play," as in "it's a xxxx play" and "landscape," as in "we're in a competitive landscape." From Glenn: The next time I hear "best-of-breed" used to describe anything but a dog, I'm going to scream! From Jed: I would add "impact" to the list as it is horribly overused.

Comments

[Lisa Braithwaite]

Mochalala reminded me of another new use of the word "off." I haven't heard "cover off", but if you ever watch a cooking show, you'll hear "baked off" ("I baked off the pie crust") and on home improvement shows I've been hearing "paint off" as in, "I painted off this chair." I know I've heard it in another context, too, but I can't remember the third example. What the heck?

[Marilynn Mobley]

I tend to dislike most words ending with "ize." Apparently, you can add "ize" to any word to make it a verb, as some of my clients and colleagues have repeatedly demonstrated.

[Rebecca]

Here's a phrase that I can't stand: come-to-Jesus. I cringe when I hear people use it, and I think it's inappropriate to use it in a business setting because of it's religious suggestion.