Words & Phrases

Every culture, whether it be social or corporate, has it's own slang. Words and phrases used to communicate particular ideas, thoughts or feelings. In the military our slang was acronymns. I have found that acronymns corporate America also possesses an exhaustive list of acronymns. But that doesn't really bug me.

My current company has a certain culture. It is one of passive aggressiveness at times, plagued with decision making disorder and an overdeveloped need for consensus. I love it nonetheless. But, there are some overly used words and phrases here that have come to annoy me. Here are a few:

1) Reach Out. Ex: "Thanks for reaching out to me with reference to this project."
2) Robust. Ex: "Let's ensure our program is robust and give the client a roubust
deliverable." (I have yet to hear about anyone's ass being robust)
3) Engage. Ex: "Make sure to engage that other business unit to see what they did."
4) Touchpoint. Ex: "We need to ensure we hit all the touchpoints on this one."

Of course, my company has acronymns too; about as many or more than the military. There is one that I'm of the opinion should've been changed...STD. One would have thought that the marketing people or someone higher up would have suggested a modification to that. No. It has been broadcast all over intranet and everywhere else. And, STD in this case, is a benefit :)

Sheesh, if someone didn't know better they'd think I was in the porn industry. (I'm not).