What is the term for when a perfectly good word gets corrupted into being a business buzzword?

[blueslipper]

'Cascade' used to be a very nice word until it was corrupted into being used in business to mean tell everyone else about this.
So is there any term in English for this process?

[gms453]

Bastardize.

[Ethilrist]

My goddamn life.

Oh, wait, that's three words.

[gotpasswords]

Cromulentize?

[Mr. Kobayashi]

I have a much uglier word for it: misappropriation!

[njtt]

Originally Posted by gotpasswords

Cromulentize?

Shouldn't that be decromulentize? (Or discromulentization?)

[don't ask]

What's wrong man, did somebody move your cheese?

[ftg]

Dilbertization. (Or PHBization?)

[Senegoid]

Optimizing linguistic synergy contingencies.

[Wendell Wagner]

Buzzwords:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_buzzwords

[deltasigma]

zombification, devolution, evisceration, obfuscation, inveiglement.

[Lazlo]

We must empower ourselves to leverage our proactive nature into a new paradigm of synergy!

[kunilou]

Jargonization?

[Dewey Finn]

Originally Posted by blueslipper

'Cascade' used to be a very nice word until it was corrupted into being used in business to mean tell everyone else about this.

I have to say this is the first time I ever heard the word cascade used in that manner.

[Wendell Wagner]

O.K., I didn't read the OP well. Saying that the words become buzzwords isn't very useful since the OP talked about buzzwords. Still, I don't think that there is any word or phrase describing what happens except that these words are turned inot buzzwords.

[Zeldar]

corpspeak

[Postariti]

I've hear people use "co-opt" to describe this.

[Wesley Clark]

The problem is they don't just take the word, they turn it into a buzzword shell. So the definition would have to include that fact.

I have always considered 'hijack' or 'usurp' to be the word, but even that doesn't encompass the fact that the word becomes a meaningless buzzword.

[blueslipper]

Originally Posted by Dewey Finn

I have to say this is the first time I ever heard the word cascade used in that manner.

Maybe it is a Melbourne usage. I have seen it in 3-4 jobs here.

[Tangent]

A paradigm shift?

[Shakester]

Ruined.

Despoiled.

[Scumpup]

beshitting?