Buzzword Blight

Someone needs to go on a diet.

Something that I have difficulty understanding is the incessant use of buzzwords in business and the way their usage seems – in much the same way as Warcraft‘s Scourge Blight – to putrefy and spread everywhere.

Actually, that’s a very good comparison. Not because most managers are zombies, but because most can only build something on top of the festering mass of their own ego. And because – despite their conviction that they’re very cool and modern for using those words – everyone else knows that the habit is actually a sign that nearby humans are  in danger of brain-rot.

About now, all the managers out there are itching to jump down to the comments and berate me for my distorted, demotivational view of their job. Well, consider this:

Take, for argument’s sake, a phrase like “Encourage resources who resonate with the idea of building your brand.”

To most of you (and me), this would translate roughly into normal English as “Encourage employees who understand the importance of gaining brand recognition.”

The thing is that, in a global environment like the Internet, it could be read by a non-native speaker.

Putting that phrase through an online translator, you may be saying “Promote assets who vibrate with the notion of constructing your mark.”

Which, although it sounds funky, is probably not the message you want to convey.