ack, this thread is making me cringe!

I think the most irritating buzzword is "synergies." It's always used when talking about mergers and acquisitions...it's extra pissed me off today because I got a letter from the local Hostelling International chapter that used it...they're trying to sell the membership on a merger with the Vancouver based chapter, and I've yet to hear a coherent argument on why this is a good thing.

All they seem to be able to do is point to corporate style buzzwords.

I teach. Here are my most (least) favorites:

teaching to the test
rigor and relevance
building relationships in the classroom
life skills (these include such skills as keeping your ass out of jail, how not to join a gang, and developing self-esteem)
No Child Left Behind
consistency
discipline management framework
bla
bla
bla

Whatever. It's all political crap. I choose not to listen or follow many of the rules. One of the many things I like about my particular school.

Innovation, out of the box, pushing the envelope, disruptive technology, zzzzzz.....

and I LOVE this IBM commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziOG_GHNVq0

Wow! This thread is making me nauseous.

The only thing worse than synergies is when someone wants to leverage them.

Go-to is almost as repulsive.

quote:

Originally posted by lovemyluggage:
I teach. Here are my most (least) favorites:

teaching to the test
rigor and relevance
building relationships in the classroom
life skills (these include such skills as keeping your ass out of jail, how not to join a gang, and developing self-esteem)
No Child Left Behind
consistency
discipline management framework
bla
bla
bla

Whatever. It's all political crap. I choose not to listen or follow many of the rules. One of the many things I like about my particular school.

It just cracks me up how many gazillion buzzwords educational administrators are coming up with: we'll get flyers about seminars & workshops for this new technique, that new method, this new thang, and the whole time I just keep thinking...what about just 'good teaching'.

You know "green" is a buzzword when you hear car companies, big oil, and plastic water bottle companies use it as their main selling point.

green, like my face everytime I hear it used.

Yeh, my company has started tossing around the "term" green as in getting our customers to use "green marketing" - i.e. e-mail... whatever!

The latest one that's killing me is "deep dive" - i.e. let's take a "deep dive" into the customer's requirements. I cringe every time I hear it.

Granularity is another one that's getting tossed around a lot.

They all make me want to cry!

I hate "Going forward". Kill me now. I once sat through an endless school board meeting and kept track of the number of times that phrase was thrown around. One guy said it seven times in one meeting. I kept thowing evil thoughts in his direction.

Ever play buzzword bingo? We did it once at a tel-com meeting at my old office. Phone conference so the other end couldn't see us silent cheering as they said "metrics" (another hated term).

I now cover education for the newpaper. Amen to rigor, relevance and relationships. Bull****. A new one is "scaffolding". In other words, an excuse to get rid of programs that work. Vomit.

Jet

From my time at IBM

"Out of scope"

When I hear people say that now I find myself reaching for a weapon...

'moving forward' and even worse...'in terms of moving forward'. One of my bosses did a lecture at the local University and almost every sentence he said incorporated 'in terms of moving forward' - especially just tacked onto the end of a sentence, as if it makes things any clearer about the price of rice in China.
Unfortunately I also have to listen to it every time we have a meeting to find out how the company is going...
'so such and such a client is in the bag...in terms of going forward...' Grrrrr

Otherwise he's a decent bloke.

Let's Circle Back -- always makes me picture a dog chasing its tail.

Think outside the box -- what box? I'm in a box? Oh, yeah, I finally got an office instead of a cubicle, so I guess I should go out in the hall to think.

Actully, I don't hear these too often in my current job, but they still make my skin crawl.

Green is so last week. Now the greedy corporate developers investors in our state's future tell us that all their projects are sustainable and based upon traditional neighborhood designs.

As in: "This environmentally-conscious luxury gated community shows our commitment to sustainable development through the use of traditional neighborhood design."

So, I read through this post a few weeks ago and was highly entertained. The past few weeks I have been paying more attention to some buzzwords. The #1 word I have been hearing..."Show-stopper"

Since we don't have a thread called 'Cliches That Irritate The Wazoobajesus Out of Me,' I'm posting here that if I hear how New Orleans 'dodged a bullet' one more time.....