# I hate the word proactive.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [September 4, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415 "2006-09-04T17:44:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2006, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/21 "2006-09-05T02:00:58Z")
Does anyone know how to use [Bullfighter?](http://www.fightthebull.com/bullfighter.asp) I’ve installed it but it will not work (aka: function in a proactive capacity)
My boss has been misusing a perfectly good word lately: **Communicate.** “Let’s _communicate_ about that later.” How shall we comunicate? Talk? E-mail? Sequential graffiti in the restroom stall? Write in blood on the fridge door?
My choice: write messages on Nerf darts, launch at each other with starter’s pistols.
Oh yeah: now, we ‘flip’ e-mails to each other rather than ‘forward’ them. In my day, all we ever ‘flipped’ was the bird 😃
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### Author:  [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2006, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/22 "2006-09-05T02:03:32Z")
There’s what the dictionary says, and there’s what it _means_.
What your boss means when he says “we need to be proactive” is “I have no idea what we should be doing, but because I’ve made this declaration, any problems are now your fault. No tags back.”
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### Author:  [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/23 "2006-09-05T02:11:35Z")
> [@Annie](#):
>
> My boss has been misusing a perfectly good word lately: **Communicate.** “Let’s _communicate_ about that later.” How shall we comunicate? Talk? E-mail? Sequential graffiti in the restroom stall? Write in blood on the fridge door?
I used to work for your boss! 😃
Years ago, I had the Boss From Hell, and he used the word ‘communicate’ this same way, and all the freaking time. He’d even leave little Post-It notes for me to find in the morning.
“I need you to comunicate with me about the Jensen application.”
“I will communicate with you about the notes for the afternoon meeting.”
Drove me nuts. I hated the guy.
> [@](#):
>
> My choice: write messages on Nerf darts, launch at each other with starter’s pistols.
In the same office, another girl and I used to write each other notes, ball them up and throw them to each other. Just for fun, and just because we could. This was years ago, before email and IMs, obviously.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2006, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/24 "2006-09-05T04:31:03Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I hate that word, because I used to have a boss who said he wanted me to be more proactive, but really he wanted me to be psychic. He thought I should know exactly what he wanted me to do, even when he didn’t know. Not a good situation–I’m glad I’m not working for him anymore.
I once had a boss who told me he wanted to cut back on our film use. When I pressed for further clarification (I had already learning not to assume I understood what was going on in his head) he told me that I shouldn’t take any pictures of an inmate injury unless the inmate was going to end up suing us. So I had to try to explain to him how time worked - that the injury occurred in “the present” and the lawsuit occured in “the future” and that when the future happened, the present had gone away and we couldn’t take pictures of it anymore. And to think, I had a reputation for not being a helpful subordinate.
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2006, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/25 "2006-09-05T13:04:09Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#):
>
> What other word would you use to describe a kung-fu hippie from gangster city who is totally in my face?
That depends. How Rasta is he?
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### Author:  [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/26 "2006-09-05T17:04:13Z")
> [@Ludovic](#):
>
> That depends. How Rasta is he?
If he’s not Rasta enough, we can certainly further Rastafy him…
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### Author:  [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/27 "2006-09-05T17:20:07Z")
> [@figure9](#):
>
> I hate the word - PROACTIVE!!! It is a meaningless buzzword that has somehow gotten into the dictionary. My pre 1985 dictionary’s did not list it so it must have been made up sometime in the 1980’s. As far as I can tell in PROactive the prefix PRO has the meaning ‘before’, active means to be doing something so Proactive means to be doing something before you do something. Dr. Who might be able to be proactive, but nobody else can be proactive. Let me summarize. I HATE THE STINKING WORD PROACTIVE!!!
I hate the word incentivize.
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### Author:  [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/28 "2006-09-05T18:59:39Z")
Obligatory link to [Bullshit Bingo!](http://www.bullshitbingo.net/cards/bullshit/)
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### Author:  [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2006, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/29 "2006-09-05T19:43:57Z")
> [@col\_10022](#):
>
> I hate the word incentivize.
Me too, although when challenged to come up with a direct equivalent, I failed miserably. “Encourage” and “motivate” are both slightly more nebulous, with no definite reward implied, and “incent” is as much a back-formation as the original, and too similar in sound to existing words. Unfortunately, I think this is another instance where a horrible word is covering a definite gap in meaning, unlike the hideous “touch base” et al. I don’t know if that makes it better or worse.
I read my housemate’s performance review a while back. He was described as having an “outgoing client-facing persona”\*. And here was I thinking he was just friendly. Then there was a bit about how he’d successfully managed several \ “resources”, which turned out to mean “people”. I almost cried. Thankfully he just quit.
- Which to me merely proves that management consultants are expected to be two-faced…
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/30 "2006-09-05T20:47:45Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Thankfully he just quit.
No, no, no.
He re-ordered his employment options and disengaged from his status as a beneficiary of that corporation’s resource retention activity.
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### Author:  [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/31 "2006-09-05T20:56:53Z")
> [@Dead Badger](#):
>
> … unlike the hideous “touch base” et al. I don’t know if that makes it better or worse.
Ugh. When I worked for the Boss From Hell who used ‘communicate’ all the time, there was a guy who used sports analogies _all the freaking time._ “Touch base” was one of his favorites.
“Swing and a miss” meant the client chose not to go with his product or it was a bad meeting, “Step up to the plate” meant he was meeting a new client, “Hit one outta the park!” meant a meeting had gone well and he’d sold a big package, “Run for the endzone” meant he was going out of his way to make a sale… it made me crazy. Every sentence out of his mouth had some sports-related analogy.
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### Author:  [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/32 "2006-09-05T22:56:06Z")
> [@astro](#):
>
> Every time you’re tempted use the word “proactive” use “prophylactic” instead.
OK - now I am going to have trouble keeping from laughing every single time I listen to my clients talk! 😃
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### Author:  [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/33 "2006-09-06T18:10:42Z")
But…but…it’s why Jessica Simpson no longer has chin-zits!
[How can you dis Proactiv???](http://www.jsimpson.net/index.php?cat=63)
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### Author:  [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2006, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/34 "2006-09-06T18:25:26Z")
> [@Licentious Ectomorph](#):
>
> Well, “reactive” does sorta mean passive, at least until action is unavoidable. And I still say “active” would be just fine and dandy, conveying the same meaning that people intend with “proactive.”
I don’t see how this works at all. Reactive means to act in response to an event. Proactive means to act in anticipation of an event. Active just means to act, whenever.
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### Author:  [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/35 "2006-09-06T18:39:40Z")
I hate the word drizzle.
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### Author:  [@The\_Eater\_in\_the\_Round](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Eater_in_the_Round)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/36 "2006-09-06T18:42:08Z")
My boss uses the word _leverage_ like smurfs use the word _smurf_. People, places, companies, ideas, actions. He _leverages_ things against one another, _leverages_ things with other things, _leverages_ things around each other, _leverages_ things against themselves, _leverages_ things both for and against other things. And no he doesn’t work in credit or finance so he is not using that word for one of its only legitimate uses.
If I am ever in position where I do hiring or awarding of contracts I will immediately disqualify any applicant who uses the word _leverage_.
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### Author:  [@nameless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nameless)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/37 "2006-09-06T18:52:18Z")
Synergy. That is all.
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/38 "2006-09-06T23:29:47Z")
> [@Dead Badger](#):
>
> You might want to drill down into a subject more when co-actualizing your thoughts for bringing people on board going forward.
Thank you for [reaching out](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=339102) to him.
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### Author:  [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2006, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/39 "2006-09-09T13:11:42Z")
> [@Ensign Edison](#):
>
> I hate the word drizzle.
Fer shizzle.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2006, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-word-proactive/371415/40 "2006-09-09T13:28:21Z")
I’ve got a boss who uses the following expression:
> [@](#):
>
> The attached document detailing the new process must be read prior to implementation on Monday. Please **socialize** it to your teams.
What the fuck is _that_ all about?
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