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Just because I am semi-retired from here, doesn’t mean I’ve totally gone away. Every now and then (about every two years), I will write a non-racing related post that details one of my many pet-peeves – people who use the latest trendy sayings and corporate buzzwords.

My ex-wife was always quick to adopt the latest trendy sayings, when we were married in a ten-year span from the mid-80s to the mid-90s. She was the first I had ever heard use terms like Don’t go there or 24/7. She was not so much a trendsetter as she was a trend follower. It was my first window into just how disingenuous she was, and is one of the many reasons why she is now an ex. Unfortunately for her, she is now in her mid-60s like me – yet still tries to sound like a teenager. It isn’t pretty, but I digress…

Most people who use these trendy sayings, think that people are looking at them in awe – wishing they could be as cool. They don’t realize that many of us just look at them and laugh, as they try to convey their alleged hipness as their evaporating youth is there for all to see.

Many years ago, I got a new boss. He wasn’t a bad guy, and was actually a pretty good boss for the short time he held that position. But he was uncomfortably quiet and shy. I am essentially an introvert, but I came across as the life of the party compared to this guy. It was very awkward to be around him. Fortunately, he worked out of another location and I was only around him about once a month. But in those times we were together, he insisted on talking in corporate gibberish. He was the first person I had ever heard use terms like Get in the weeds, Drill down and The optics.

Unfortunately for him, his department was eliminated about five months after becoming my boss. He lost his job and I was moved under a guy in Texas, whom I met just once over the next year and a half. This was in the days before Zoom. He was a lot easier to talk to, and he seemed like a great guy who spoke in plain terms. Nowadays my boss is on the other side of town, and I see him about twice a year.

Whenever I hear the latest corporate buzzwords, I always think back to that boss of mine who was so shy that spoke in buzzword-speak. I wonder if he is still doing that, or if he finally wised up and realized that people snicker behind backs when they hear pretentious garbage like that.

It’s been over three years since I compiled my latest list of trendy sayings and corporate buzzwords and ranted about them here. But these three-week gaps between IndyCar races aren’t going to last forever. Pretty soon, we are going to be knee-deep into the IndyCar season and with me doing fewer posts here – I don’t really want to spend them on less serious topics like this. I mean, who saw Jay Frye being named President at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing?

As the season really gets going, I’ll (probably) be posting more than I have been lately – just not on a regularly scheduled basis. But I cannot over-emphasize how liberating it has been to not have to crank out three articles a week.

With that being said, here is my latest list of buzzwords, non-words and trendy sayings that really get under my skin. As usual, some of these have made my previous lists – but they just won’t go away. Others are here for the very first time. Hopefully, they will go away soon.

Same: This is a new one. It came out of nowhere, but it has become way too common. My own son uses it all the time. Some of my younger co-workers do too. It’s extremely irritating. I can make some elaborate point (like I’m doing now), and some trendy person will follow up my eloquent rant with “Same”.

It’s two syllables fewer than saying “I agree”, but it carries the same meaning. But generally, when someone says “I agree”, they follow that up with something supporting what was just said. I guess it’s this generation’s version of another stupid phrase from about 25 years ago – Word. When someone throws out the monosyllabic “Same”, it just makes me feel empty. All of the energy I put into that rant, and that’s all I get? I’d rather you said nothing than say that. It’s almost as if they couldn’t be bothered to speak or elaborate, so they utter one obligatory syllable. It gives me the impression they would have preferred I gave no rant at all, but I know that can’t be the case.

Conversate: This one first surfaced in my post three years ago. It’s another one my son is guilty of using. He used it in a sentence over the phone about six months ago, and I couldn’t stay silent. I told him it was not a word. He disagreed, but at least he didn’t say Not same. He claims it is the act of having a conversation. To me, that would be talking or discussing.

To take it a step further, I was in a meeting last month and a co-worker was trying to make a point. He said “…when you are conversating with someone…” and I felt my entire body cringe. No, no and no! If you are saving syllables with Same, why are you using extra syllables with a non-word like conversate? Do they think they sound more intelligent by using conversating, instead of talking? If they do, they are mistaken. As I type this, every time I type out conversate – red squiggly lines show up. That should tell you something.

Heard: Chalk this one up in the same category as Same. It’s hard to get any simpler than replying OK, but someone has managed to do so. If I ask you to please shut the door when you come in, replying OK is acceptable. It conveys that you not only heard what I said, but you understood why I said it. If all you say is heard, it implies exactly what it sounds like – I heard what you said, but I don’t like it or agree with it. I find it to be barely more acceptable than an inaudible grunt.

I’m over it: Without naming names, this one is used frequently in my own household. The first time I heard it, I had to ask for an explanation because it made no sense to me. It did not diffuse the situation, because we were in an argument and the saying was directed at me.

The premise was something along the lines of I’m over your little quirks and obsessions. I later found out the gist of it was that she was tired of my quirks. Where I come from, saying you are over something means you were upset about it, but you have gotten over it to the point it is no longer a problem. I can assure you that was not how she intended it. Saying she was over it, really meant just the opposite. It meant I was irritating her beyond belief. I found the whole comment very strange, but I have since heard other people using it in the same context. I still find it very strange.

Bandwidth: This one may have been the most overused term in the corporate world in 2024. The real meaning is an IT term, meaning how much data can flow at one time. But then some mid-management drone decided it would be chic to use Bandwidth in a trendy way to describe the ability for a person or group to take on tasks; as in We are getting too busy and we don’t have the bandwidth to keep up with demand. Please.

Yeah, yeah, yeah: When I was growing up, that was the chorus to a hit Beatles song that had just been released. Lately, people are saying it in a rapid-fire cadence – usually in the middle of a conversation. For example, if I’m talking to my next-door neighbor about how conversate is not a word – he will just blurt out yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s as if he wants me to shut and he is growing impatient with the conversation, but I know that can’t be the case.

I hear it on television all the time. Someone is conducting an interview and suddenly, they blurt out yeah, yeah, yeah as if they really have no interest in the interview continuing. People at work are saying it all the time, and not just to me. Not only is it very annoying, it’s just plain rude.

No Cap: I heard a young co-worker use this term and had to flat-out ask what it meant. After she stopped snickering at how old I sounded, she explained that it meant something was true, as in seriously or I’m serious. I guess it’s sort of like what we said to convey sincerity back in the 70s – I’m not sh**ing you or No sh**. Why cap? I have no idea.

10:00 am in the morning:  File this under repetitive redundancy. This is like other overly repetitive phrases like a PIN Number, an ILS System or the SEC Conference. You either say 10:00 am or 10:00 in the morning – not both.

Vibe Check: I heard this for the first time just the other day. As usual, I had to ask for clarification on what it meant. I wished I hadn’t. The person using it said that it was a way to get a feel for the energy level of the group. Seriously? I almost barfed. I guess it’s a good thing they didn’t do a bandwidth check.

I know, Right??? This has shown up on this list more than once, but it is becoming more and more prevalent as time goes on. I have made it clear to everyone at work how much I despise this – especially with the annoying follow-up Right??? that asks a question to no one in particular. Unfortunately, I have a fairly new employee that says it multiple times a day. Do I want to be that boss that offends an otherwise good employee? No, but I know the day is coming when I blow up at her for it and I’ll make an a** out of myself. Then she’ll quit and I’ll find myself in front of HR.

Then of course, there are the usual culprits that I’ve listed so many times that it is getting old. Irregardless, Flustrated (a combination of flustered and frustrated, that keeps popping up), Reach out (I don’t ask people to reach out to someone, I ask them to contact them) and Gifted (you don’t gift someone a present, you give it to them).

It’s all just gotten to be way too much. Why can’t people just talk normally? I don’t like having to need a dictionary or subtitles in order to carry on a conversation with someone. Excuse me…to conversate with someone. Long Beach can’t get here soon enough.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on April 4, 2025 at 4:02 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.