# Three non-technical, non-PR, non-Management Speak words you really hate **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 11, 2005, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-non-technical-non-pr-non-management-speak-words-you-really-hate/298754 "2005-04-11T05:57:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-non-technical-non-pr-non-management-speak-words-you-really-hate/298754/81 "2005-04-21T15:06:41Z")
PARADIGM - LIASE - “THE ENTERPRISE”. I had a manager who could use all three of these in one sentence. What an asshole. Some British doper hates “orient” . I just checked and the UK (as well as the USA) has the sport of “Orienteering”. Does that bother you too? Note that it’s not “Orientate-eering”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-non-technical-non-pr-non-management-speak-words-you-really-hate/298754/82 "2005-04-21T15:15:26Z")
> [@Hello Again](#): > > And an honorary mention to “Who Moved My Cheese?” a book so loathsome the mere mention of it can send me into a froth. Right on! Tell it, brother! Amen! We could start a whole pit-worthy rant on this book in particular, and corporate management using psycho-babble to cover their shortcomings in general…but that would hijack this thread. Suffice it to say that the linked review nailed my feelings. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-non-technical-non-pr-non-management-speak-words-you-really-hate/298754/83 "2005-04-21T15:24:35Z")
> [@Stryfe](#): > > “yeah?” Not the use of yeah as an answer, but as a question such as “that’s good, yeah?” hate it. I hate the word “yeah,” too, though I hate it in all its forms. It’s as though whoever is using it is just too lazy to bother tacking on an “s” to yes. And it sounds a lot less confident. “So, do you like to swim?” “Yeah.” That answer seems so on the fence, like saying, “Yeah, it’s okay,” even if you love swimming. “So, do you like to swim?” “Yes.” That answer sounds a lot more sure. I guess “yeah” would be appropriate if you sort of like something, but I still don’t like it. Also, I hate it when I ask a question only to be answered with “What?” when someone doesn’t hear me. Can’t you just say, “I didn’t hear that,” or “Pardon?” Saying, “What?” sounds really abrupt. I know it’s really common to say “What?” but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. My third most hated is anything that used to be a noun but is now used as a verb: “Liase,” “Incent,” “Interface.” Yuck. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-non-technical-non-pr-non-management-speak-words-you-really-hate/298754/84 "2005-04-21T15:30:43Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > PARADIGM - LIASE - “THE ENTERPRISE”. > > I had a manager who could use all three of these in one sentence. > What an asshole. > > Some British doper hates “orient” . I just checked and the UK (as well as the USA) has the sport of “Orienteering”. Does that bother you too? Note that it’s not “Orientate-eering”. 🙂 OUCH - WET NOODLE TIME - I MISREAD THE OP - SORRY FOR THE MANAGEMENT SPEAK!!! ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-non-technical-non-pr-non-management-speak-words-you-really-hate/298754/85 "2005-04-21T22:24:51Z")
> [@JillGat](#): > > Re. “issues,” I was tired of it in the US and then _really_ winced everytime I heard it pronounced in the Caribbean with three syllables: “is see yous.” The British probably say it that way too and I want to sock em in the nose. We do not! It is either “iss-yoos”, or “ish-oos”. My girlfriend and I have had arguments about this: I say “tiss-yoo”, she insists it is “tish-oo”. I doubt that there is a definitively “correct” answer, as with most pronunciational variances (thought this was the appropriate thread to stick this ugly phrase in that I just made up for the purpose 🙂 ). Re orienteering: that’s never bothered me. You’ve caught me in a contradiction, **BwanaBob**! I hadn’t thought of that - still can’t come up with a coherent reason why that’s OK but “oriented” isn’t - damn you! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-non-technical-non-pr-non-management-speak-words-you-really-hate/298754/86 "2005-04-21T23:20:09Z")
Pamper – I hate the sound of the word. I hate what it means. I’d rather hear nails on a chalkboard than to hear someone say, I’m going to the spa today. I need to be pampered. Or a resort, cruise line, or hotel that uses the word in it’s advertisement. We’ll pamper you. **No you will not, just treat me right.** Nestled – A beautiful cottage nestled in a grove of orange trees. A tender chicken breast “grilled to perfection” (Hate that too) nestled on a bed of fresh mixed greens. \*\*Grill the chicken and put it on a plate of lettuce. \*\* I know it’s been mentioned already, but poo, poop, and potty are words that should be used by children – **young children. Not adults.** ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-non-technical-non-pr-non-management-speak-words-you-really-hate/298754/87 "2005-04-22T03:37:50Z")
> [@Phase42](#): > > Because some goofball’s are geniuses! I have a nitpick, but I believe it’s in the spirit of the thread. You spelled “goofball’s” in the possesive form, but it is in the plural context. :wally ---
**Author:** ![kalex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dfb087/32.png) [@kalex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kalex)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-non-technical-non-pr-non-management-speak-words-you-really-hate/298754/88 "2005-04-22T03:58:34Z")
I’m so glad no one got to mine yet, because Lord I hate them so - it’s time to retire ‘extreme’ when it’s used to describe a sandwich (sammich?) and my personal least favorite, ‘it’s a no-brainer.’ Why would I want that? I want things to be brainers, and I hate you for forcing me to decribe something as a brainer, which isn’t even a word! I have to go pee. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-non-technical-non-pr-non-management-speak-words-you-really-hate/298754/89 "2005-04-22T04:02:52Z")
> [@kalex](#): > > I have to go pee. Bastard! You find out what a person can’t take and then you force them to endure it Room 101 style. Bitch bastard! ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-non-technical-non-pr-non-management-speak-words-you-really-hate/298754/90 "2005-04-22T13:24:58Z")
To all my Straight Dope breathren, Please stop using the word **meme**. It’s a psuedo-science way of saying “idea” or “concept”. This reeks of “new-age” and sounds very pretentious for a board devoted to fighting you-know-what. Thank you for your attention in this matter. Sincerely, Brian P.S. But, please, don’t hesitate to say _meme, meme, meme!_ in some following post. It’s so damned funny when that happens 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![trupa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@trupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trupa)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-non-technical-non-pr-non-management-speak-words-you-really-hate/298754/91 "2005-04-22T23:08:35Z")
My two personal pollitically correct, warm-fuzzy, herbal-tea-ish, let’s-all-hold-hands-and-sing-kumbaya-around-the-fire pet but burners are: **community** : your community, this or that ethnic community, we have to consult the community. This neighborhood is a real community. **stakeholders** : have we consulted the stakeholders. (although a mob of angry peasants holding sharpened sticks with which to impale vampires is a perfectly acceptable use of the word, IMHO) so of course when some city councellor gets interviewed on the radio and puts them both together in the same sentence, I have to refrain from punching the car radio. Gachhh! Two lesser sins, note above, and of which I am often guilty myself, are two words that are used way too often in the high-tech industry, and both imply superior knowledged being simplified or corrected for the ignorant interlocutor: **actually** , and **basically**. (_voted the two most often used words at Bell-Northern-Research in 1992-93_) and finally, I leave you with that eternal pearl of linguistic putrescence: irregardless. ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-non-technical-non-pr-non-management-speak-words-you-really-hate/298754/92 "2005-04-22T23:27:18Z")
**proactive** Yes, it’s been around a long time, but there are no signs of it ever going away. **medication** Something wrong with the word “medicine?” **commentate** No comment necessary. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-non-technical-non-pr-non-management-speak-words-you-really-hate/298754/93 "2005-04-23T01:40:25Z")
> [@trupa](#): > > **community** : your community, this or that ethnic community, we have to consult the community. This neighborhood is a real community. > > **stakeholders** : have we consulted the stakeholders. Top choices - I use them all the time in my PRopaganda job (especially the doublethink “community”). “Service” is another appallingly abused and overused word. Ditto “excellence” and “quality”, which have come to signify the opposite of what they mean. **Julius** , I see your “proactive” and raise you an active (as in "active participation). “Medication”, “medicine” - I prefer “drugs”. At least it serve to remind speaker and listener both of the companies who make oodles of money out of the things. My own contribution (may be limited to Hong Kong English): “meaningful”, as in “Please contribute to this meaningful activity”. Fuckwits! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-non-technical-non-pr-non-management-speak-words-you-really-hate/298754.md?page=4)