FACTOID # 51: Russia won the first World Air Games, held in Turkey in 1997. Events included hang-gliding, sky-surfing, and ballooning.
 
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Encyclopedia > Buzzwords

A buzzword (also known as a fashion word) is an idiom, often a neologism, commonly used in technical, administrative and political environments, consisting of an over-used word or phrase. Buzzwords appear ubiquitously but their actual meanings often remain unclear. A buzzword may or may not appear in a dictionary, but if it does, its meaning as a buzzword does not match the conventional definition. Buzzwords differ from jargon in that they have the function of impressing or of obscuring meaning, while jargon (ideally) has a well-defined technical meaning, if only to specialists.


Why do speakers use buzzwords?

A generous view allows that buzzwords have the same function as jargon in scientific disciplines: as newly-minted terms to describe new concepts, without the danger of over-simplification and confusion that can arise from using words and phrases with previously established, commonplace meanings.


Buzzwords can also function to control thought by being intentionally vague. In management, stating organizational goals by using words with unclear meanings prevents anybody from questioning the directions and intentions of these decisions, especially if many such words are used. (See also newspeak, Machiavelli.)


A less cynical interpretation might claim that the intentionally vague phrase may boost individual thinking and creativity by deliberately raising questions.


Examples

See also





  Results from FactBites:
 
Word Spy - buzzword bingo (693 words)
Buzzwords — "incent," "proactive, "impactfulness," for example — are preselected and placed on a bingo-like card in random boxes.
When one of the buzzwords is spoken at the meeting, players put a coin on its square.
Buzzword bingo is appealing not only because most business meetings are deadly dull, but also because you get the feeling that most of the people spouting these buzzwords are doing it only to sound important.
Buzzword Hell (692 words)
Buzzword Hell is the new place to waste your time doing what we all love to do - bash those bastardized words that should have never been born.
Strategy is essential to the success of any organization and implement and suggested ones would normally have to fit into established systems, assuming that the business does not want to risk implementing new policies and procedures in their current setup.
Buzzwords are fashion terminologies stemming from new words used and composed like idioms in various purposes such as managerial, technical, and political setups.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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