Subscribe by Email

Your email:
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Youtube Google+ Inbound Marketing Blog

Latest Posts

Kuno Bloggers

Categories

Inbound Marketing Agency Blog

Current Articles | RSS Feed RSS Feed

Top 10 Phrases to Avoid in 2012

Posted by John McTigue on Fri, Dec 16, 2011 @ 08:51 AM
 

In keeping with my annual holiday tradition of blasting everyone for using way too much corporate mumbo-jumbo or just silly overused phrases in their daily speech, I present to you this year's winners of the Overused Expressions Award. You can also review last year's list and see just how far (backwards) we have traveled this year. Someday I will undoubtedly look back on this effort as my biggest gift to humanity and rationale for making it beyond the Pearly Gates. So without further ado...

Seriously?

Everytime you say this it makes me want to punch you in the face. If I wasn't serious, why would I have said what I just said? OK, maybe it's appropriate if I am either lying or joking, but then it's clear to me that you're too dumb to get it. So let's just can this one and go back to saying...

overused corporate speak makes my head hurtWhat?

When people first started saying "what?" when they were caught doing something funny, outrageous or just plain stupid, I thought it was hilarious. Now it's so overused it makes my head ache. Let's move on people.

Ping Me -or- I'll Ping You

OK, do you guys actually know what this means? Geek that I am, I know that "ping" is a computer command that you use to test the connection between systems on a network. Now it's used to mean I'll call you, email you or otherwise get back to you. Personally, I think only geeks should be allowed to use geek-speak. So cut it out.

Persona

I guess we're talking about a profile here, a characterization of a typical individual that represents a larger group. To me, it means nothing at all. I don't think anybody really knows what this word means, so why use it? Gobbledy gook.

Ecosystem

I guess I'm old school, but I think about Walden Pond or the Everglades when I hear this word. Now it apparently means any kind of loosely constructed organization of crap into something very marketable. Now that's creative. I think all businesses, software packages, social networks and "Housewives of..." reality TV shows should be called ecosystems from now on.

Business Drivers -or- KPIs

This is great because you now have two options to replace the old fashioned word "factors". You can either go the corporate nonsense route with "business drivers" or the always popular acronym route with KPI (Key Performance Indicator). Please shoot me now.

Game Changer

It will be a real game changer when people stop using expressions like this.

Value-Add or UVP

Yawn. You lost me at "value..."

Leverage

Leverage this!

OK, this is getting ugly. Time to quit while I'm ahead. I'm sure you have some fav's to add to my list, so please "pony them up" or "queue them up". OMG!!!!!

Photo credit: mrdorkesq


Tags: , , ,

Comments

The next time I hear "Wait for it..." I'm going to shoot myself...Great List
Posted @ Friday, December 16, 2011 10:39 AM by Bruce McTigue
B - Oh man, that's a good one. Why should I have to wait for it? It's probably something really stupid anyway...
Posted @ Friday, December 16, 2011 10:47 AM by John McTigue
How about these?  
 
• “I could care less.” Uh, then why don’t you? You don’t care enough? You don’t have the capacity to care any less? You don't have the brains to know that you can care less? When I hear this trite malaprop, I want to scream, "It’s, 'I couldn’t care less,' you moron!”  
 
• Better yet, how about, “irregardless?” Is that a double negative? If so, what does it really mean? You don’t regard what shouldn’t be regarded anyway? (Sigh.) 
 
 
 
Thanks for the mental exercise, Chris. This was fun to read.  
 
Posted @ Friday, December 16, 2011 10:58 AM by Rand Johnson
That was beautiful, John! You got me spontaneously nodding vigorously. Now I'll be listening for these, and others to add to the list, in the days ahead. Pity the people who work with me!
Posted @ Friday, December 16, 2011 11:04 AM by Greg Linnemanstons
Hi Rand, 
 
I have to take the blame for this one. Chris was blissfully not the author. I have to laugh because "irregardless" is a word I use deliberately to see if people are paying attention (or grammatically challenged in some cases). 
 
Thanks, John
Posted @ Friday, December 16, 2011 11:09 AM by John McTigue
@Greg, glad to be able to contribute to your employees' collective pain. Surely this will pull my Klout score way up, except, of course, I quit a month or two ago.
Posted @ Friday, December 16, 2011 11:12 AM by John McTigue
How about, "absolutely!" My wife and I both cringe with that one. Superlatives overused are no longer superlatives.
Posted @ Friday, December 16, 2011 11:16 AM by Rand Johnson
*sigh* oh John, you went right for my heart on this one didn't you? http://www.minternetmarketing.com/blog/bid/48798/customer-persona-modes-the-smarketing-magic 
 
Surprised you do not have "smarketing" on the list. Maybe next years? 
 
Here is my pet-peeve phrase, usually told me to by overly excited and shorter then me men: 
 
"Let's go for it and hit this one out of the park!" 
 
When I imagine the fist pump on the other end of the line, I have to put myself on mute. ;-)
Posted @ Saturday, December 17, 2011 1:02 PM by Carole Mahoney
You've got me curious!! 
 
If you suggest not using "UVP", what terminology do you suggest should be used to describe the critical, succinct statement that small businesses can use to differentiate themselves from their competition? 
 
At our company, a UVP isn't just a generic blah-blah, meaningless term. It's the name of an important business component, like "logo" or "website" or "marketing". To us, it's the name of a powerful differentiating statement that can take weeks of research, rewriting, collaboration, interviews, etc. to develop. We've seen UVPs make dramatic differences to our clients. 
 
I'm guessing you understand the value of UVPs as well, and are simply communicating that it can sound like empty techno babble to many clients. 
 
And so, I'm so very, very curious: as you suggest the term "UVP" not be used in 2012...what is the name that should replace it?
Posted @ Saturday, December 17, 2011 3:58 PM by Erin
@Erin, well if you insist, why not call it "unique value proposition"? UVP sounds like military speak to me. Acronyms suck in general because they assume the other party knows what they are and they make me think the person who uses them are too lazy to say the words. But that's just me...
Posted @ Saturday, December 17, 2011 4:01 PM by John McTigue
@Carole - I was sorely tempted with "smarketing" but hey, we have to have something for next year don't we? I agree, we're going to have to do something about the sports analogies. I'm thinking we should partner up and do a "Basic English 101 for Marketers and Bloggers" webinar. What do you think?
Posted @ Saturday, December 17, 2011 4:05 PM by John McTigue
Do you mean I'm insisting...that a UVP is a good thing? I'm not sure what you mean there. 
 
In the end though, we're on the same page in that UVP is an acronym, and acronyms are confusing for outsiders of any industry. KPI, SEO, PPC, ROI, etc.  
 
From your post though, it had seemed you were saying that using the full term "Unique Value Proposition" wasn't an option either, based on the "Yawn. You lost me at "value..." 
 
?
Posted @ Saturday, December 17, 2011 4:07 PM by Erin
@Erin, all I'm saying in this post is that we tend to go to the same well too many times. It starts to sound like "yada yada yada" to me, so surely it sounds that way to our clients and prospects. Maybe instead of saying "we're focused on your UVP" we should say something like "how can we differentiate you from your competition?". That's all. Keep it real and stop relying on buzz words. Otherwise, hey, this post is about humor, laughing at ourselves. Is this foreign to you?
Posted @ Saturday, December 17, 2011 5:37 PM by John McTigue
Yes, humor is totally foreign to me.  
 
I apologize for not clearly understanding everything you were trying to communicate.
Posted @ Saturday, December 17, 2011 6:45 PM by Erin Pheil
What about "impactful" or did you already use that one a few years ago? It brings on a wave of nausea, snobby English major that I am!
Posted @ Monday, December 19, 2011 7:07 PM by lili
Comments have been closed for this article.