It seems cringey buzzwords and corporate waffle are everywhere you look these days. And now, a tech company has compiled a definitive list of the worst jargon going around at the moment.
Buzzsaw is an online tool used to help people edit out annoying words, phrases and jargon in emails, press releases and any other text.
It asks journalists, writers and social media users to send in the words and phrases that “make their skin crawl”.
From here, it builds a database of words to avoid and then helps users automatically strips these pieces of text out.
And now, Buzzsaw has released its 2021 ‘hall of shame’ – the 15 words and phrases that are most likely to irritate the reader.
The top 15 list is based on frequency of submissions from editors and correspondents worldwide.
The list is as follows:
1. ‘Cohort’
2. ‘Close the loop’.
3. ‘Hop on a call’.
4. ‘Hope your (SIC) well’.
5. ‘B2H’ (Business to Humans), ‘B4H’ (Business for Humans) and ‘Humaning’ (defined as a ‘unique, consumer-centric approach to marketing that creates real, human connections with purpose’).
6. ‘Mainstream media’.
7. ‘Agile’.
8. ‘Trying times’, ‘now more than ever’, ‘new normal’, ‘nice to e-meet you’, ‘we’re all in this together.’
9. ‘We remain cautious’.
10. ‘TLA’.
11. ‘Ideate’.
12. ‘Non-fungible’.
13. ‘Woke / curate’.
14. ‘Socials’.
15. ‘Influencer’.
There was also a “dishonourable mentions” list, as follows:
Dishonourable mentions:
- ‘Content’
- ‘Disambiguate’
- ‘Human Capital’
- ‘Reach out’.
- ‘Circle back’
- ‘Bake’
- ‘Going forward….’
- ‘Awesome’
- ‘Build the dish’
