Sentient

The Language of the Recession

Sarah Rice

Language tells us a lot about where people are at with their thinking. Corp-speak, best known for it obfuscation, can also reveal. Here is Sentient’s In and Out word list for mid-2009

 

OUT

IN

Innovative: using new words to talk about old concepts

Pragmatic: same old stuff, but now we don’t have to dress it up in new clothes

Smart: we’ve put some young guys with funky hair cuts into the meetings so it feels edgy

Wise: we finally get to the take the young guys out of our meetings

Out the box thinking: lets have a wild idea and then throw money at the problem till we can claim success

Prudent: no wild ideas. Just good, hard working solutions that come in on-budget

People centric: we have to be, or they will leave for a better paying job elsewhere

Profit centric: we have to be, or we will go out of business. The good news is that we don’t have to pander to the whims of young gun employees with funky hair cuts

 

Personally? I am relieved this bling-bling-gel-laden-funky-hairdo-check-out-my-trainers-they-cost-more-than-your-car way of communicating has been replaced by the bring-your-own-shopping-bag-wash-the-jam-jars-buy-in-bulk-fiscal-conservative-ness of our grandparent’s generation.

 

 I never have to use the word innovative in a press release ever again. It’s a bit more real now. It’s all about getting the job done and getting paid for it.

 

Wonderful. Now, if we could just prove the prudence of pragmatic PR… then I would be onto something truly innovative…

 

 

 
 

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