25th August 2000

Tiresome Buzz Words

If you are anything like me, you get heartily fed up with the way important-sounding terms get thrown into almost every conversation, document and conference paper when it is clear that the users do not have a clue what these terms mean. Examples of my pet hates are 'holistic', 'integrated', 'strategy', 'balanced score card' and 'management system'. Such terms are often hijacked from particular disciplines where they have precise meanings but, when misused, the wrong and even the opposite meaning may be conveyed. Take 'holistic', for example. It is frequently used by the ignorati to mean comprehensive (for full discussion see my book Practical Systems Thinking as detailed in the books page entered via the home page of this website. Rambling policy statements entitled 'strategy statement' are commonplace.

Impressive buzz words are all part of the contemporary inflation of language in society when common colds are called flu, headaches are called migraines, being fed up is depression. Insurance brokers are now styling themselves as 'risk management experts' as if to hide the reality of their transactional core business. Let's challenge fraudulent piffle whenever and wherever we can.

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