# Buzzwords and hackneyed phrases that must DIE **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 26, 2008, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338 "2008-06-26T17:48:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/1 "2008-06-26T17:48:04Z")
I had mentioned over in GD that the stock political catchphrase in the 2008 campaign (throwing someone “under the bus”) needed to be urgently retired. Apparently commentators and politicians have so fallen in love with this expression that it is constantly recycled, after the fashion of “gravitas” and “soccer moms” in previous election years. “Under the bus” must be ground to scorched bits under the wheels of enlightened discourse. Enough!!! Another expression that’s gotten ridiculous is “on the ground”. “Almost everyone was not killed by a suicide bombing in Iraq today, so things are looking better on the ground.” GWB is quoted in the paper today as calling the Zimbabwe election runoff a sham. Says George: “The Mugabe government has been intimidating people on the ground in Zimbabwe.” Wow, I had thought Mugabe’s thugs were only intimidating people hovering several feet in the air or perched on rooftops. But you say people _on the ground_ are being affected too? That’s a whole 'nother kettle of fish! Time to act!!\* \*Of course this is the guy who can’t stop saying “nu-cu-lar (power)”, but I’ll let him have that one if he’ll just stop blathering about what’s happening “on the ground”. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/2 "2008-06-26T17:55:06Z")
Not political but I’d love to see phrase “Information Superhighway” taken out behind the building and shot. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/3 "2008-06-26T17:58:54Z")
The 2008 [Banished Words List](http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php) includes “under the bus” and so many more horrific phrases. I am glad to see “webinar” there because I keep getting emails inviting me to one. I’d like to invite the inventor of “webinar” to a “shootinar”. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/4 "2008-06-26T18:13:35Z")
“I don’t think any of us has the bandwidth for that at this time.” “We need to put a stake in the ground.” I love my boss to death but I’m already stressed and these phrases don’t help. ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/5 "2008-06-26T18:49:11Z")
“Robust” in anything describing computer software or hardware. Your mother’s authentic italian cooking is robust. Your enterprise antivirus security software is not. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/6 "2008-06-26T18:50:38Z")
Have they banned _throw one’s hat in the ring_ yet? My sister really hates that one. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/7 "2008-06-26T19:16:57Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] I love my boss to death but I’m already stressed and these phrases don’t help. [/QUOTE] Perhaps you should dialog with him about it. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/8 "2008-06-26T19:27:47Z")
I’m too busy ‘thinking outside the box’ to have another “paradigm shift”. Of course, we haven’t had a pardigm shift in a long time, is one due? ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/9 "2008-06-26T19:33:09Z")
Sheesh, I’m still trying to work smarter, not harder. ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/10 "2008-06-26T19:34:29Z")
I have a long-time friend who recently took a corporate job with a large corporation. We both came up through the ranks and spent years running crews throughout the hinterlands of the western U.S. In other words, we’re both crusty old ex-shovelbums who have become project managers. Anyways, Jim and I were on the phone the other day and he used the term “action item.” If there hadn’t been several other project people on the line I would have laughed out loud. ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Norse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/big_norse/32/9954_2.png) [@Big\_Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Norse)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/11 "2008-06-26T19:42:09Z")
“ideation” - how is that even a word? ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/12 "2008-06-26T19:42:32Z")
I find this thread to be fit for purpose. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/13 "2008-06-26T20:00:36Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] Perhaps you should dialog with him about it. [/QUOTE] I’ll have to get myself on her radar screen. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/14 "2008-06-26T20:10:31Z")
[QUOTE=Jackmannii] I had mentioned over in GD that the stock political catchphrase in the 2008 campaign (throwing someone “under the bus”) needed to be urgently retired. Apparently commentators and politicians have so fallen in love with this expression that it is constantly recycled, after the fashion of “gravitas” and “soccer moms” in previous election years. “Under the bus” must be ground to scorched bits under the wheels of enlightened discourse. Enough!!! [/QUOTE] The thing that pisses me off is it doesn’t make any sence. It’s used in the meaning of sacrificing someone so you can get away. But how the hell does that makes sence? If you actually threw someone under a bus it would be a pointless psychopathic manuever of kill and a random stranger on a sidewalk. It’s not like it’s gonna slow a bus down so it won’t hit you. “Throwing to the wolves/lions” or “leaving for the sharks”, or even something like “hobbling for the hyenas” might fit. “Throwing under the bus” was assinine the first time it was said. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/15 "2008-06-26T20:13:59Z")
[QUOTE=Flander] “Robust” in anything describing computer software or hardware. Your mother’s authentic italian cooking is robust. Your enterprise antivirus security software is not. [/QUOTE] Really? Why not? ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/16 "2008-06-26T20:15:06Z")
“Perfect storm” is the one currently bugging the crap out of me. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/17 "2008-06-26T20:19:08Z")
I like the meme of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/18 "2008-06-26T20:21:55Z")
“Going forward.” Going forward, we will never make any of these terrible mistakes again. Because going backward, we would already know about them. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/19 "2008-06-26T20:22:04Z")
I have gotten a slight extraocular muscle strain from rolling my eyes at the repetition of the word “holistic”, as in “holistic medicine”. “Big Bob’s Walk-In Naturopathic Clinic takes care of the _entire_ patient holistically, rather than just treating the disease.” This makes sense. I’m tired of going to my family doctor and no matter what’s the problem, getting questions about nothing but my liver. Though I suspect that in most cases “holistic” practitioners are interested in the whole of my wallet. ---
**Author:** ![vertizontal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ad7895/32.png) [@vertizontal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vertizontal)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338/20 "2008-06-26T20:33:05Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon] I like the meme of this thread. [/QUOTE] And I expect this thread to utilize best practices to achieve an enterprise solution. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzwords-and-hackneyed-phrases-that-must-die/454338.md?page=2)