De-integrate: To disassemble. "We're going to have to de-integrate the entire assembly and start from scratch."
Stakeholdering: The process of seeking support, approval, or clients for an upcoming project. "I spent the entire Christmas party stakeholdering upper management on my first quarter initiatives."
Repurpose: To redefine how an item is used, often as an alternative to discarding it. "If we don't repurpose this production line, we're going to waste $2 million in capital."
Econometrics: Known by consultants to be the act of simply plugging numbers into a pre-made spreadsheet, yet externally marketed (to those who will not ask detailed questions) as a highly scientific analytic modeling exercise performed by economists and industry-specific experts.
If you have ever used any of the above words in either your written or oral communications, this post may very well save your life.
I found the above words from The Ridiculous Business Jargon Dictionary.
This site is full of the ridiculous and mindless words we use everyday in our business communications. Spend a few minutes browsing this site and see how familiar these words are to you and your company.
While I make no claims to mastery of the English language, I do have great disgust for the damage the business and communications community has done to it.
When Winston Churchill was a school boy, he had so much trouble learning the classical languages of Latin and Greek that his teachers decided to “force” young Winston to take extra English classes. Churchill’s failure to grasp Latin and Greek became one of the great “misfortunes” in all of human history.
Why? Because Churchill’s extra attention to the English language helped him become one of the greatest word masters, orators, and writers in history. In many respects, Churchill’s words were the most powerful British weapon against Hitler and his Nazi hoard.
So, when it comes to our written and oral communications, let’s take our cues from Mr. Churchill. Here are two communication gems from Churchill that we should all take to heart:
“Use simple words everyone knows; then, everyone will understand."
". . . short words are best and the old words when short are best of all."
Take a look at this excerpt from Churchill’s famous “Blood, Toil, and Tears” speech:
“You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. Let that be realised; no survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge and impulse of the ages, that mankind will move forward towards its goal.”
When you read this excerpt, observe the simplicity of Churchill’s language. There is not a single word that a commoner wouldn’t understand.
If you study Churchill’s other speeches, you will discover that he followed this pattern of using simple, powerful words and phrases in all of his speeches. You will also notice that Churchill did not overuse or abuse adjectives in his speeches. In his famous “Blood, Sweat, and Tears” speech, Churchill only used 81 adjectives out of a total of 667 words (12.1%).
Far too often in our communications, both written and verbal, we try to impress our audience with fancy words, an overabundance of adjectives, and mindless jargon. In the end, we don’t impress anyone. We just end up looking ridiculous and out of touch.
Timeless Lesson: Simplify! Simplify your communications and use old and short words.
P.S. Here is a timeless poem about words from Art Kudner. He wrote this little poem for his newborn son in 1936.
Never fear big long words.
Big long words name little things.
All big things have little names.
Such as life and death, peace and war.
Or dawn, day, night, hope, love, home.
Learn to use little words in a big way.
It is hard to do but they say what you mean.
When you don’t know what you mean, use big words.
That often fools little people.
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