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Calling a spade a spade would be too easy, wouldn't it?
Why else would an abundance of new-speak vocabulary have arisen, unless
to allow people that aren't especially intelligent to appear to elucidate
well above their intellectual level? Of course, you can always have lots
of fun playing "buzzword bingo" at staff meetings.
Paradigm: I'm going to ask for a show of hands here.
Okay, not really, especially if you happen to be at work or in a lab or
any other place where people might point and stare if you randomly stuck
your hand up in the air. How many of you have heard the word 'paradigm'
used in a sentence, and not had a sweet clue what the word meant? How
many of you have used it yourself?
Okay, hands can go down now. I figured about as much. Almost everyone.
Now for your daily enlightenment. A paradigm is a pattern, a framework,
or a generally accepted standard. Yes, I needed to consult Mr. Webster
to come up with that definition. I freely admit it. So there's no need
for you to feel bad about putting your hand up earlier.
Paradigm is the prime example of a buzzword. It gets used entirely too
much, hardly anyone really knows what it means, and lets face it, it sounds
far more cool than it actually is. Paradigm is a prince among buzzwords.
Little buzzwords want to grow up and be like it. And what's more, Paradigm
is a manufacturer of high quality loudspeakers, and I happen to own a
set. As buzzwords go, paradigm is very Good.
Outside the Box: Maybe it's just me, but my reaction
is always the same when I hear this term used -- "What box? We weren't
talking about a box, where did the box come from?" Okay, maybe not
exactly like that. I'm also thinking about that scene in The Matrix with
the boy that can bend spoons, only I imagine him saying "There is
no box."
Basically when someone says to think outside the box, they want you to
look for a solution that's original and creative, and perhaps not confined
by simplistic limitations. I don't see what's so wrong with using words
like 'original' or 'creative' myself. Using 'outside the box' is just
a $20 way of saying it. In my opinion, and that is what this is all about,
that makes it Ugly.
Infrastructure: This buzzword is one that is actually
useful, well, in a not all that useful manner, anyway. You might think
that infrastructure refers to some sort of highly specialized structure.
You'd be wrong. It's just a nice, big inclusive word for any type of building,
or public works, or highways, or whatever. Stuff that government might
build, or at least pay for. Schools are infrastructure. A new highway
extension is infrastructure. A hockey arena is infrastructure, too. I'm
not positive if parks count, since they aren't really built, but let's
ignore that. When a public official says that $20 million has been allocated
to new infrastructure funds, he's just saying that they're going spend
some cash and build some stuff. So it's all good, unless it's a big project
that happens to be running through your backyard. That's not so good.
But in general, infrastructure is Good.
Proactive: Now I'll admit this, I did go and break out
the dictionary for this one, because I wasn't 100% positive that it meant
what I thought it meant (I'll also admit that I wrote this while listening
to "O Fortuna" from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, but I digress).
I really didn't have to, because it meant pretty much what I assumed.
To take initiative. Take the first step. Make the first move. Don't wait
for the other gladiator to come to you, run out and meet him with your
sword held high. So basically it's the opposite of being reactive (not
reactive in the sodium-in-water manner, of course). As far as buzzwords
happen to go, proactive is on the weak side. It's not complicated. It's
not difficult to figure out. And it's very easy to spell. In short it's
Bad.
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