PR/Business Words and Phrases that make me cringe

Here they are:

Top-line * * * Quick and Dirty * * * Synergy * * * Cutting Edge

We’ve all heard them get overused and abused, and I think I’ve reached my carrying capacity, as far as these terms are concerned. People love to toss them around, and I’m now finding that they rarely ever resemble what they are supposed to represent.

How many times has your “top-line” summary become extremely detailed? Or that “quick and dirty” presentation turn into the slide deck from hell?

I don’t really have any thoughts on “Synergy”…I just hate it, and the minute I hear someone describe something as “cutting edge,” it ages and immediately loses whatever cool factor it may have had.

These words and phrases really do make me cringe. The only appropriate place for them is in Business Guys On Business Trips comic strips.

There’s another word that should be up there: “bucket”. It gets used so much at work now that I am starting to become slowly desensitized. Four months ago, there would be no question about how I felt about the use of “bucket”, but since then, it has joined the list of PR/Business terms I’ve come to appreciate like “re-purpose”.

I need your help in putting a stop to the problem we have before it gets worse. I am calling for a 90 day moratorium on the following phrases:

Top-line * * * Quick and Dirty * * * Synergy * * * Cutting Edge

In that time, PR/Business people will have to work on saying exactly what we mean. I know it will be hard, and it may get worse before it gets better, but we can do this!

Anyone with me? Any words that should be added to the list? Let me know.