10 words/phrases we encounter too much at Burn Media

Being a tech journalist is a dream job for me but, as with any job, it does have a few drawbacks.

One of those is that you’ll be bombarded constantly with buzzwords that mean nothing and add even less to the subject. In no particular order, here are a few words we wish would just go away.

Creative – You hear this a lot when people describe what they do. This is right up there with “social media rockstar” and “design guru” as one of the most generic job titles around. Get a proper title.

Lean – Olympic swimmers are lean. Assigning three jobs to one employee isn’t lean — that’s cheap.

Disruptive – If I had a coin for every time a startup claimed to be disruptive, well, I wouldn’t invest it in them. Unfortunately, this is a “boy who cried wolf” situation, because whenever a “disruptive” company truly does show up, it’s hard not to be cynical.

Digital – So you work in “digital”? You know that Casio watches are digital too, right?

Touch base – When talking is too mainstream, you touch base, apparently. This also sounds like a lewd gesture.

Revert – “I will revert soonest” — to what, homo habilis? Revert doesn’t mean what you think it means.

Stakeholder – Unless you’re Buffy or Blade, you’re not a stakeholder.

Influencer – Having 50 000 followers who all scroll past your sponsored tweet doesn’t count as influencing.

Organic – Things happen. That’s how life works. You don’t need to tag “organically” to the end of it.

Going forward – You hear this one a lot when talking about planning. Unless you can time travel, “going forward” is the only direction we’re talking about here.

Featured image: John Keogh via Flickr