Seth Godin has started a Squidoo lens on the Encyclopedia of Business Cliches. There’s a top 10 that has morphed into a Top 83 (and counting) and that will change as votes are cast in favour of one or another & other cliches are added. The current top 3 are: Best Practices, Synergy & Thinking outside the box.
The main thrust is that these terms, though (arguably) once useful, have been discredited through over-use and by functioning as a shield agaisnt actually saying something useful, insightful or relevant.
Cliches are more than just linguistic shortcuts, they’re typically also intellectual & creative shortcuts. It’s easy to fall back on one of these vacuous expressions, deferring responsibility for saying something meaningful or least forcing the reader (listener, etc..) to interpret for themselves. In fact, its probably better that these cliches are used so often. It allows the consumer/interpreter to come to their own conclusions.
I’m sure if business rhetoric all of a sudden became honest, transparent, insightful and useful, we wouldnt have a clue what was going on & what was expected of us. At least now, when some someone says "lets think outside the box" we know they don’t have clue what they want and are expecting us to come with the answer that will save their skin.
Tags: business cliches, godin, language, squidoo
Categories: Interpretation · Plain Language
I’ve noticed a trend among certain blogs I read – the post apologizing for a lack of activity. Never one to want to be left out….here’s mine.
It’s summer. There’s vacations. Great events in the city. Opportunities to escape the city to cottage country. Golf. Etc. Etc. Etc. Seeing as I’m not making money of this blog, I feel no obligation to satisfy any stakeholders or other regulatory bodies. I would hope that those who do read this are out enjoying the summer rather than waiting patiently for my latest post.
This is my summer hiatus as I work on next season’s scripts, develop the promotional strategy, enter pre-production, record episodes that will kick off the fall with a bang. I may test the waters with some pilots of things I’m hoping to develop later.
True, I’m not a major network and the always-on internet means you can find me even if I’m not broadcasting new episodes. Infrequent posting doesn’t make for good conversations. I’m well aware of that, but sometimes its good to just listen and take it what’s going on around you.
I’ll get back in the groove, but for now I’m going to enjoy the sun & heat. Cuz there’ll be plenty of time to spend in front of the computer during the winter. We’ll soon return to regularly scheduled programming.
PS. I’ve cross-posted this on my Marcomedy blog b/c it allows me to use another tv phrase…a simulcast.
Tags: apologies, summer, blogging
Categories: Candor or Truthiness
