I had a column come out in Bloomberg View last week about words and terms I feel move us away from saying things clearly, in contact with that objective reality which must be out there somewhere. It was gratifying to get in, because I’ve been thinking about such a column for years, and it was good to finally make an effort to put it on paper (so to speak), and then see it in print (so to speak.) Here’s the link to the column.

It’s already elicited some great comments, including this one from my friend and old colleague Mike D’orso. What he is describing is a bit different than what I’m talking about in the column, but it’s still a great list. Here’s the message from Mike:

Mike D’Orso Spot-on, Alex. 
And DAMN you! You hooked me into spending the past hour or so making a list of the bloated buzzwords and phrases that make me want to scream (or strangle someone). Here’s what I came up with (there are, of course, tons more, but I need to get back to my life…what there is of it):

“IMPACT” used as a verb, rather than “affect”
“EMPOWER” rather than “allow” or “let”
“AT THE PRESENT TIME” rather than “now”
“ENDEAVOR TO” rather than “try”
“IRRESPECTIVE OF” rather than “despite”
“UTILIZE” rather than “use”
“EXECUTE” rather than “do”
“IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO” rather than “near”
“ACCENTUATE” rather than “stress”
“TOUCH BASE WITH” rather than “contact”
“EXPEDITE” rather than “hurry” or “speed up”
“PARADIGM SHIFT” rather than “change”
“PRICE POINT” rather than “price”
“ADJACENT TO” rather than “next to” or “beside”
“DOWNSIZE,” rather than “fire”
“EFFECT MODIFICATIONS” rather than “change”
“FACILITATE” rather than “help”
“STRATEGIZE” rather than “think” or “think about”
“LEVERAGE” used as a verb, rather than “use”
“GROW” (as in “grow the business”) rather than “increase”
“BRINGS TO THE TABLE” rather than “has”
“BUY IN” rather than “agree” or “accept”
(Military) “COLLATORAL DAMAGE” rather than “civilian deaths”
“OUTSOURCE” rather than “have someone else do”
“SYNERGIZE” rather than “cooperate” or “work together”
“INVESTED IN” rather than “involved” or “care about”
“ENABLE” rather than “help”