# Trendy buzzwords that you wish you could just blow up into smithereens **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 17, 2016, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223 "2016-03-17T00:39:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Graymalkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@Graymalkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Graymalkin)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/61 "2016-03-17T14:55:45Z")
and “spot-on” and “one-off” “blood and treasure” has finally faded walk back pushback ---
**Author:** ![Jumpbass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jumpbass/32/147_2.png) [@Jumpbass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jumpbass)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/62 "2016-03-17T15:08:13Z")
xizor sez: > [@](#): > > And its stupid cousin “awesome sauce” …and IT’S stupid cousin “weak sauce”. It may not be trendy, but saying “utilize” instead of “use” makes me a bit nuts. My wife does it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/63 "2016-03-17T15:46:48Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Fucking hell, I hate this stupid faux touchy-feely bullshit. What the fuck is the matter with “I called her”? Makes me want to reach out and slap the shit out of whoever says this. > > Also, “thought leader” is presently annoying me. Well, to me, “reach out” has a more expansive meaning. It means attempting communication in some way, including via an intermediary. It can be talking, it can me email, it can be snail mail, it can be via a relative, etc. It also has the connotation of friendly communication. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/64 "2016-03-17T16:03:06Z")
These have been mentioned, but I’m **REACHING OUT** in a **ROBUST** manner from **MY WHEELHOUSE.** I’d like to reach through my TV and punch everyone at CNN in the snout. **"Moving forward/going forward"** makes me crazy. Really? How else would one move? The past? (And, yes, time is an artificial construct . . . but still). **"Onboarding"** is the newest buzzword on campus for getting students to use our new course planning software. Ahoy, maties! Welcome to Pirate U! I think (hope) that “interrogate,” the fave word of every author in the humanities, may be in its death throes. ---
**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:** [March 17, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/65 "2016-03-17T16:07:22Z")
Hacktivism Emoji Chillax Game-changer (and it’s even worse cousin, change the narrative) ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/66 "2016-03-17T16:12:32Z")
Grok hack - in anyway that doesn’t involve a computer security breach ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/67 "2016-03-17T16:37:00Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > These have been mentioned, but I’m **REACHING OUT** in a **ROBUST** manner from **MY WHEELHOUSE.** I’d like to reach through my TV and punch everyone at CNN in the snout. They can also retire ‘gravitas’ now too. It was nice they found that nifty word in the thesaurus, but enough already. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/68 "2016-03-17T16:51:38Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > I think (hope) that “interrogate,” the fave word of every author in the humanities, may be in its death throes. Over here in the social sciences, we have “contest,” “engage,” and “negotiate.” ---
**Author:** ![mage-girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@mage-girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mage-girl)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/69 "2016-03-17T17:13:18Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Truth is, I probably use 80% of the words and phrases here, maybe more. Seriously, “to reach out” is a common peeve? Is “get in touch with” okay? Or is “contact” the only acceptable verb for those folks? > > Other ones for me: any of those stupid political name-calling words like “cuckservative” or “democrap” or “rethuglican” or even “Drumpf.” None of them are remotely clever and make the user look like a sophomoric partisan hack to me. YES. I dislike those “clever” political slurs too. It makes the speaker/writer look like an idiot, no matter what their political affiliation. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/70 "2016-03-17T17:32:08Z")
Whatever Guy Fieri says. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/71 "2016-03-17T17:34:10Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Over here in the social sciences, we have “contest,” “engage,” and “negotiate.” Reminds me that I forgot to include “reiterate.” My memory is faulty today (lack of sleep due to puppy), but remember that science guy who wrote an totally impenetrable article of gobbledy-gook that was accepted in a prestigious humanities journal? I also vote “core assessment outcomes/any phrase resembling” off the island 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/72 "2016-03-17T17:38:05Z")
Ah, here 'tis: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal\_affair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_affair) ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/73 "2016-03-17T17:49:24Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Truth is, I probably use 80% of the words and phrases here, maybe more. Seriously, “to reach out” is a common peeve? Is “get in touch with” okay? Or is “contact” the only acceptable verb for those folks? “Somewhere there cumbers this fair earth with his loathsome presence a man who, for the common good, should have been destroyed in early childhood. He is the originator of the hideous vulgarism of using contact as a verb. So long as we can meet, get in touch with, make the acquaintance of, be introduced to, call on, interview or talk to people, there can be no apology for contact.” F.W. Lienau, 1931. ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/74 "2016-03-17T17:58:50Z")
Using “ironic” to mean “so very mildly amusing it’s not even worth mentioning.” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/75 "2016-03-17T18:12:10Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Well, to me, “reach out” has a more expansive meaning. It means attempting communication in some way, including via an intermediary. It can be talking, it can me email, it can be snail mail, it can be via a relative, etc. It also has the connotation of friendly communication. So why not just say: I talked to him, I sent him an email, I sent a letter, I asked my son to talk to her? “Reaching out” implies some sort of emotional content to me, as when you communicate with someone who is grieving, or providing some sort of assistance to someone who is suffering. But when a news reporter says something like “We reached out to Mr. Edwards and asked him about the pedophile charges”, it makes me homicidal. Well, perhaps not. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/76 "2016-03-17T18:24:12Z")
So, does anyone else troll these threads to find interesting, new words or phrases to say? No? Okay then. I’ll just back out slowly now. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/77 "2016-03-17T18:25:37Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > So, does anyone else troll these threads to find interesting, new words or phrases to say? No? Okay then. I’ll just back out slowly now. Yep, and I make sure to include some of the most reviled in my posts. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/78 "2016-03-17T18:30:47Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > Hacktivism > **Emoji** > Chillax > Game-changer (and it’s even worse cousin, change the narrative) That one severely annoys me too – for heaven’s sake, use “emoticon” or “smiley”! It was not all that long ago that I first encountered “emoji” – on another board, with a thread headed “Putin Considers Outlawing Gay Emojis”. Initially, I was plain baffled: pondering on whether there might be in Siberia or the like, a little-known tribe called the Emojis, with a preference for same-sex partners? ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/79 "2016-03-17T18:34:53Z")
An emoticon is not the same thing as an emoji. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/80 "2016-03-17T18:36:49Z")
I looked (quickly, admittedly, on Google) – could you explain, what’s the difference? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223.md?page=5)