So, I’m sitting at work the other day, and for reasons unbeknownst to me I sit in the midst of a bunch of marketing people, and I overheard a conversation which made frequent use of the word “calendarize.” What does that mean? I think it means schedule, but I don’t find it in any dictionary I have access to.
I’m not and English major, but it was a close call between that and CompSci (which is what my degree is in). I’m very frustrated by people making up new words when perfectly good words already exist to express what they mean. Since when did calendar become a verb?
Anyone else have experience with this kind of abuse of the English language?
(Okay, so it’s a lot more difficult to write clearly when
you’re accessing the Dope from a text-only browser [lynx].
I promise to try and write better in the future )
jkusters, I work in budgeting, and this buzzword comes up a lot. (you don’t by any chance work at a pharmaceutical company, do you???)
Most of the time I hear it, it is in reference to spreading budgeted money across months in the manner in which one thinks it will be spent. For example, we have a yearly travel budget of $100,000. We will then take that money and “calendarize” it. We travel more in the summer, so we’ll lump more money there, and put less of it in Q4 when the holidays approach, etc.
I’ve also heard it in reference to sales, perhaps in a seasonal type business.
Just another word to add to the Buzzword Bingo card.
I’ve heard it often as a synonym for “schedule”. I shudder every time. But in defense (of the indefensible), it often appears to have a nuance of to literally enter something in your calendar.
Are you sure it isn’t calenderize? A calender is a machine through which a substrate is rolled under pressure to give it smooth, glossy surface. I s’pose calenderizing could be used to describe that process, although calendering would probably be more accurate.
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