There are certain words or phrases that seem to cast a spell over people. All at once some expression is all the rage, and there is no escaping it. It is hard to say anything positive about this particular manifestation of herd mentality but we\u2019ll try: It\u2019s better than a lynch mob.<\/p>\n
Have you noticed how many conversations now start with the word so<\/em>? \u201cSo last night I fell asleep reading War and Peace<\/em>.\u201d What does \u201cso\u201d add? Where did this come from? How did it start? When did this measly mundane monosyllable become hip?<\/p>\n Here are a couple of other usages that are playing havoc with our blood pressure:<\/p>\n Incentivize<\/strong>\u00a0 Although a worthless jargon word,\u00a0incentivize<\/em> is warmly embraced by the business community. It means simply \u201cto offer incentives to or for.\u201d Some random examples among the many found online: \u201cWe ought not to incentivize ignorance of the law.\u201d \u201cProfessor says legislature should incentivize utilities to improve efficiency.\u201d \u201cIf you are going to incentivize anyone, incentivize the buyer.\u201d<\/p>\n Are you impressed yet? Anyone can turn nouns or adjectives into fancy-sounding verbs by tacking ize<\/em> on the end, but why do it in this case, when words like\u00a0motivate<\/em>, inspire<\/em>, encourage<\/em>, and influence<\/em> are readily available?<\/p>\n Incidentally, not all management mavens welcome incentivize<\/em> with open arms. The following unhinged disclosure is from a business website: \u201cNext time I hear someone use this I will reach across the board table, smack them with my laptop, then stand over their prostrate body and pour a hot cup of coffee into their ears so the last thing they hear is my voice screaming \u2018Incentivize is not a word you ignorant corporate drone!\u2019 \u201d Uh-oh. Someone has been watching too many Quentin Tarantino movies.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a GREAT question<\/strong>\u00a0 Up until a few years ago, one might respond to a thoughtful, challenging query with \u201cThat\u2019s a good question\u201d or simply \u201cGood question\u201d before answering. It was a low-key, cordial acknowledgment. It was no big deal.<\/p>\n Nowadays, when some big shot is being interviewed, it won\u2019t be long before we hear a hearty \u201cThat\u2019s a great<\/em> question,\u201d even when the question is obvious or routine or insipid.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a great<\/em> question\u201d could be dismissed as just a tic, a mindless, reflexive throwaway line. But is it? There may be something else at play. Some interviewees deliver this empty compliment to assume the upper hand\u2014beneath the flattery is a hint of condescension. \u201cThat\u2019s a great<\/em> question\u201d is a double threat: tedious and devious. It\u2019s rarely heartfelt. It is more likely either a stalling tactic or the verbal equivalent of an aristocrat tossing spare change to a peasant.<\/p>\n P.S.: As a public service, this entire article appears with no mention of \u201ctrending.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are certain words or phrases that seem to cast a spell over people. All at once some expression is all the rage, and there is no escaping it. It is hard to say anything positive about this particular manifestation of herd mentality but we\u2019ll try: It\u2019s better than a lynch mob. Have you noticed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12,23,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-definitions","category-effective-writing","category-verbs","category-vocabulary"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}