Buzzword

A word cloud of buzzwords related to big data

A buzzword is a word or phrase, new or already existing, that becomes popular for a period of time. Buzzwords often derive from technical terms yet often have much of the original technical meaning removed through fashionable use, being simply used to impress others. Some buzzwords retain their true technical meaning when used in the correct contexts, for example artificial intelligence.[1][2] Buzzwords often originate in jargon, acronyms, or neologisms.[3] Examples of overworked business buzzwords include synergy, vertical, dynamic, cyber and strategy.

It has been stated that businesses could not operate without buzzwords, as they are the shorthands or internal shortcuts that make perfect sense to people informed of the context.[4] However, a useful buzzword can become co-opted into general popular speech and lose its usefulness. According to management professor Robert Kreitner, "Buzzwords are the literary equivalent of Gresham's law. They will drive out good ideas."[5] Buzzwords, or buzz-phrases such as "all on the same page", can also be seen in business as a way to make people feel like there is a mutual understanding. As most workplaces use a specialized jargon, which could be argued is another form of buzzwords, it allows quicker communication. Indeed, many new hires feel more like "part of the team" the quicker they learn the buzzwords of their new workplace. Buzzwords permeate people's working lives so much that many do not realize that they are using them. The vice president of CSC Index, Rich DeVane, notes that buzzwords describe not only a trend, but also what can be considered a "ticket of entry" with regards to being considered as a successful organization – "What people find tiresome is each consulting firm's attempt to put a different spin on it. That's what gives bad information."[6]

Buzzwords also feature prominently in politics, where they can result in a process which "privileges rhetoric over reality, producing policies that are 'operationalized' first and only 'conceptualized' at a later date". The resulting political speech is known for "eschewing reasoned debate (as characterized by the use of evidence and structured argument), instead employing language exclusively for the purposes of control and manipulation".[7]

  1. ^ "Buzzword". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  2. ^ Compare: "buzzword n. orig. and chiefly U.S. a keyword; a catchword or expression currently fashionable; a term used more to impress than to inform, esp. a technical or jargon term." "buzz". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  3. ^ definition of buzzword Archived January 15, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. Grammar.About.com.
  4. ^ Ettorre, Barbara (September 1997). "What's the Next Business Buzzword?". Management Review. 86 (8). Retrieved September 6, 2015. How can corporate America operate without buzzwords? They will be with us always because business organizations are a ready market for them. ... These are internal shortcuts. To outsiders, they might be little understood, but to everyone in the organization, they make perfect sense.
  5. ^ Ettorre, Barbara (September 1997). "What's the Next Business Buzzword?". Management Review. 86 (8). Retrieved September 6, 2015. Robert Kreitner, senior lecturer and professor of management at Arizona State University, equates buzzwords with the economic theory holding that bad money drives out good money. 'Buzzwords are the literary equivalent of Gresham's Law', Kreitner says. 'They will drive out good ideas [...].'
  6. ^ Ettore, B. (1997, September). What's the next business buzzword? Management Review, 33–35.
  7. ^ Loughlin 2002, pp. 229–242.