The most-hated buzzwords in the English language
You responded to our appeal to send us the jargon word that causes you to erupt in a screaming fury. Did you respond!
This started a synergistic conversation in our office: What other words and phrases should we ban?
If we forbade ourselves all superlatives, would we still be able to write our usual literate, persuasive appeals to our audience asking them to attend our conferences and workshops?
We decided to take it public. Why not ask Ragan followers for their most-despised words? Why not ask everybody? We did so, in the office, on HARO, at home.
The result: We’re digging ourselves out from an avalanche of detestation, hatred, vitriol, bile and nausea directed at cant words and phrases. See below for details. (See also my helpful, expert commentary on each of our readers’ responses.)
Karl: Lazy prose is writing that doesn’t get its minimum daily requirement of irony.
Jim: Why is this word NEVER used correctly? Why? By the way, you use it too much.
Ellen: Just wait for the TV series imitating “Shark Tank” titled “The Disrupters.”
Samantha: I can almost taste your distaste. Let’s put this word on the back burner.
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