Buzzword Dictionary: 1,000 Phrases Translated from Pompous to English
Pompous jargon pervades English these days, from corporate speak to silly legalisms. This lighthearted look at how English is being mangled reveals the underlying meaning, as well as the attitudes behind the meaning, of more than 1,000 buzzwords. Readers will discover that "learning opportunity" is a nice way of saying "mistake;" a "lawn mullet" is a yard that's neatly trimmed out front but growing long in the back; and a "meanderthal" is someone who has a hard time...
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Pompous jargon pervades English these days, from corporate speak to silly legalisms. This lighthearted look at how English is being mangled reveals the underlying meaning, as well as the attitudes behind the meaning, of more than 1,000 buzzwords. Readers will discover that "learning opportunity" is a nice way of saying "mistake;" a "lawn mullet" is a yard that's neatly trimmed out front but growing long in the back; and a "meanderthal" is someone who has a hard time getting to the point when telling a story. Accompanied by 15 illustrated cartoons, this comical look at language shows how combining words can give way to new meanings. Chicago Sun-Times "This is the sort of book you can buy just for the fun of it."
\ Zink"As funny as it is informative."\ \ \ \ \ Chicago Sun-Times"This is the sort of book you can buy just for the fun of it."\ \ \ Plain Dealer"A funny new paperback of trendy and often pompous words and phrases."\ \ \ \ \ Crain's Cleveland Business"Comical and useful...It should be required reading in every corporate suit in America."\ \ \ \ \ Chicago Tribune"Useful and winsome inventions."\ \ \ \ \ Chicago Sun-Times"This is the sort of book you can buy just for the fun of it."\ \ \ \ \ Plain Dealer"A funny new paperback of trendy and often pompous words and phrases."\ \ \ \ \ KLIATT\ - Janet Julian\ One thousand phrases from A2O (shorthand for comparing dissimilar things—apples to oranges) to zombience (the atmosphere of a fine establishment that has all the trappings of elegance and the promise of great service, yet employs a staff that resembles the living dead) have been selected by John Walston from suggestions nominated by BuzzWhackers who responded to the author's website. Many words are teen slang and cultural observations, others are tech geek phrases, and the rest are from the business world. All are pithy and amusing. Kneemail, for example, is "religion's effort to give prayer a modern, high-tech image." Affluenza is "the affliction of being too focused on buying material things, working too much (and still not having enough money), and stressing out about all of it." Globesity is worldwide obesity. Meatloaf is "unsolicited mass e-mail, circulated by friends or office mates via group e-mail lists, consisting of jokes, anecdotes and other trivia. Where spam is commercial, meatloaf is homemade." Targasm is the tingly sensation shoppers get when they find something really, really good at Target. Pomposity, beware: the BuzzWhackers are out to get you. Walston's website received more than 2,000 nominations for buzzwords and it has also become a popular feature on the Internet with nearly 10,000 folks receiving BuzzWhack's daily e-mail, Buzzword of the Day. Cartoons by Mark Hill illustrate the definitions. And don't forget the 50-50-90 rule—given a 50-50 chance of things going right, they'll go wrong 90% of the time.\ \
