Comments on: Business Slang: Top 10 Worst “-ize” Words

By: Frank Roche

Frank Roche — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:09:52 +0000

Scott, lol, that is one that really is there all the time. Point well taken.

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:31:54 +0000

I can’t BELIEVE you omitted my most hated -ize word: “MONETIZE”. You will never hear a pitch without that word. I find it so awkward – like you are afraid to talk about something so base as ‘making money’, so you try to “class up” your discussion, the same way a police officer talks about speeders who “allegedly perpatrate to operate their vehicle at a high rate of speed”

By: Productivity Guy

Productivity Guy — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 20:45:20 +0000

I actually like the word templatize. As mentioned, it says what it means, and it’s necessary to use at times. What would you recommend as an alternative?

I don’t like redoing work that doesn’t need to be done, so I prefer to templatize wherever possible.

By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 23:33:05 +0000

Actually, operationalize has a very specific meaning: to make specific. When you are doing research, you need to make your variables operational – that is, so specific that they can be measured easily. You can’t measure very easily how unhealthy a person is, so you have to operationalize health: break it into a series of smaller, measurable variables like bmi, calorie intake, number of days missed from work by being sick, etc. Adapted from research to other uses, it just means to make specific or to break down into specific components. It’s not jargon slang, its people actually remembering their undergrad research methods classes. It’s something business folks stole from we research folks, not something business folks invented.

By: Sarah Chambers

Sarah Chambers — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:05:42 +0000

Robert, Thanks for the comment. I agree about utilize. It’s a crazy replacement for use. I think it may be one of those words that people think adds emphasis. There don’t seem to be enough superlatives to go around.

Jen, Supersize may still have some cultural cache. I fear what will happen when memories fade and it’s just one more office oddity. Operationalize is already there. I agree, like many business slang words, people probably say it for a reason. Folks sometimes use slang to appear knowledgeable, hip, or part of a company’s “in crowd.” Thanks for commenting.

By: Jen, writer MembershipMillionaire.com

Jen, writer MembershipMillionaire.com — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 05:59:04 +0000

You know what? I actually like the slang term supersize. I don’t know about the whole operationalize term. It seems a bit overboard. It sounds like a word someone wanting to appear stuffy would use. In these times, I say simplicity is the best policy.

By: robert edward cenek

robert edward cenek — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 01:37:17 +0000

Frank:

Keep up the good stuff!!

The most egregious use of ize is when folks use utilize when the word use would suffice!!

robert edward cenek
Cenek Report

By: Sarah Chambers

Sarah Chambers — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:22:39 +0000

Laura, That’s funny. I’m sure that is exactly where many of these other words came from. If I don’t write about “they killed Kenny” next week, I’ll probably be writing about it next year and tracing it back to you.

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 21:43:05 +0000

For next week, wouldn’t it be fun to make up new arbitrary and annoying slang words & see if you can get them to catch on? I’ve always thought “deglaze” should be used metaphorically in meetings. And “they killed Kenny” should be used to mean “they acted predictably.” Etc.