4 Icky Buzzwords That Make Me Cringe
Writing can be joyful, entertaining, inspirational and life-changing.
However, writing that utilises the latest buzzwords is absolutely dead in the water to me, even before I move beyond the headline.
Do you agree?
Over used icky buzzwords remind me of those awful songs from 20 years ago that I’ve hated since they came out, yet they are still flogged on the radio.
And even if I don’t listen to the radio, I can’t get away from them because supermarkets play them on their audio reel. They are usually pathetic whiney love songs or songs that actually don’t have any meaning whatsoever.
However, someone at some point decided they were popular, so they stay on the audio reel.
What buzzwords get you all riled up?
Current buzzwords that I hate include:
Eco-Friendly
What a load of cow excrement, seriously. Companies that are using this buzzword are often multi-national corporations that may have improved the environmental impact of their product slightly, but are still selling it in non-environmentally friendly containers. This is despite the fact they return enormous profits and could easily take some responsibility for the products they produce. In any case, I have a brain and I can tell if a product is environmentally friendly just by looking at it, actually.
Bespoke
What the hell? According to the Dictionary, bespoke means custom made. So I’m not sure why so many people are now supposedly making bespoke products. How is it in fact possible to make any money if you custom make every individual product for every individual customer? Of course in reality this buzzword is used because it makes the product sound fancier and more impressive. In actual fact, it’s as meaningless and useless as a shiny red convertible with no engine beneath the bonnet. Total bull faeces.
Sustainable
This buzzword is so terribly over-used. Now, every product has to be described as sustainable, every organisation wants to blabber on about environmental sustainability, and we just can’t get away from the word! And again, many of the companies using this word are doing as little as possible to take responsibility for what they produce, but like talking about sustainability because they think it will help them sell more products.
Mind you, in my view there is nothing wrong with the word if it is used as it was intended. According to Dictionary.com, the word sustainable actually just means something that is “able to maintained or kept going, as an action or process.” That’s totally fine by me, it’s the over-use and the false pushing of environmental guilt that has soiled this one.
Influencer
Totally nausea inducing buzzword in every way. Seriously, I can’t see why this word was ever created. If we are talking about people who promote products through social media because people like following them, they should be called (for example) a beauty products promoter, not an influencer. If the word is used to describe someone who has an impact in their field, why don’t we just call them an expert or an authority? The same goes for the icky buzzword “thought leader.” I don’t need anyone to lead my thoughts, thank you very much. However if you are an expert, I’m happy for you to be introduced that way. Thumbs up to you, in fact.
To close on a positive note, writing that leaves out buzzwords is already streets ahead of the rest of the field.
So good on you for leaving buzzwords out of your business marketing copy.