This post was part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst of 2007. Voting has now closed and readers have chosen globalization as the most overused buzzword of the year. Be sure to let us know in the comments if you are pleased with this result.

We all have our pet peeves in the evolution of language. Mine is the misuse of "quality" as an adjective, as in -- say, "that's a quality mullet you have there!" Quality is a scale of measurement, people, not a unit of measure.

That being said (which should have made the list), we have a quality set of annoying buzzwords as our candidates for the most overused in 2007.

#1. Take that offline; as in, quit embarrassing yourselves by engaging in an IM flame-war and solve your problems in a face-to-face slap-off. We would prefer that those who use the term "take that offline," would, um, take it offline.

#2. Globalization. Also flat earth, global integration, global supply chain, etc. We get it that we put on pants made in Thailand, shoes from China, a shirt from India, get in our car made in Romania, and drive to our office to work for a Belgian company selling widgets to Indonesia. No mas, por favor!

Continue reading Best & Worst of 2007: Most overused buzzwords

Best & Worst of 2007: Most overused buzzwords originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 01 Dec 2007 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Kudos to a reader named Kathleen for pointing out that we missed "vetted" in our list of the most overused buzzwords. I also agree with her that the mashing together of celebrity couple names like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (Brangelina) has got to stop.

We probably should have vetted our buzzword list with Kathleen (who didn't give her last name) before publishing it. Vetted, like all buzzwords, is a fancy-sounding word that describes something simple. It started out meaning reviewing or checking out for accuracy as in the qualifications of a nominee for a cabinet position on an article for scientific journal. Now, it's being bandied about to describe every type of review. For example, officials in Louisville are vetting a dog ordinance. When words like vetting get overused, their original meaning becomes diluted.

Finally, please dear God, when will the name mashing madness end? I mean first there was Bennifer, now Brangelina. I think Stephen Colbert created the ultimate celebrity couple when he merged William H. Macy and Felicity Huffman into Filliam H. Muffman. With the 2008 presidential election gearing up, I'm afraid the name mashing will only get worse. I'll get the process started with Hillbama (Hillary Cilnton and Barack Obama).

--Jonathan Berr is the editor of http://www.desperateinvestors.com

Vetted deserves a place in Buzzword Hall of Shame as does Brangelina originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 29 Dec 2006 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The people have spoken! The results are in for the Best and Worst of 2006 and the big winners include Donald Trump (in two different categories), Paris Hilton (with more votes than any other nominee in any category), President Bush, YouTube (edging out Borat), and this past year's skyrocketing gasoline prices.

Donald Trump didn't need the recent brouhaha with Rosie O'Donnell in order to triumph as the Most Annoying Money Personality of the Year, garnering 44% of the votes in that category. He didn't stop there. His signature comb-over was a very clear favorite as Worst Signature Style, with a whopping 85% of the vote (nearly 69 thousand votes). Readers evidently did not love the 'doo.

ExxonMobil's Lee Raymond came out on top as the Most Overpaid CEO (some very lively debate about it in the comments) with 63% of that vote. Readers also voted "real estate bubble" as the Most Overused Buzzword of 2006 with 47% of the vote in that category, and Northwest Airlines's dumpster-diving tips for laid-off employees the Dumbest Moment in Business with 45% of votes.

Continue reading Best & Worst: The results are in! It's Trump and Paris and gas prices, oh my!

Best & Worst: The results are in! It's Trump and Paris and gas prices, oh my! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 28 Dec 2006 13:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is written as part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst 2006. Cast your vote for the most overused buzzword.

Thanks to Regulation FD (for "fair disclosure"), average investors have won the right to listen to the often torturous dance between Wall Street analysts and publicly traded companies during earnings season. When things go right, there are shouts of "great quarter guys," but when someone asks a particularly long-winded or controversial question, they usually say that they will "take it (their answer) offline." Executives promise to get back to the analyst "offline" if they don't feel like answering their questions. Like most buzzwords, this phrase doesn't say what the speaker really means.

Unfortunately its popularity seems to be skyrocketing. I mean, look at this search on the SeekingAlpha site. My theory is that some PR or IR person told a CEO: "Look, you may think the analyst is a moron, but calling him a moron is counterproductive in the long-run." Analysts have found it more useful to say "I'll take it offline" rather than "I wonder what load of bull you will give me to this insightful question."

Continue reading Best & Worst: Please, let's stand behind our words, not 'take it offline'

Best & Worst: Please, let's stand behind our words, not 'take it offline' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 10 Dec 2006 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is written as part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst 2006. Cast your vote for the most overused buzzword.

On election night, CNN had a gaggle of pundits and bloggers opining about the Democratic takeover of the U.S. House and Senate. Among the throng was a journalist from Newsweek. That was amazing. On election night, a time when CNN gets big ratings, the Time Warner (NYSE:TWX)-owned network turned to someone who works for a publication that is a fierce rival of its own Time magazine. It makes one wonder, whatever happened to corporate synergies?

Executives repeated that phrase ad nauseam during the go-go 90s. I always got the impression that big investors took these estimates with a grain -- make that a truckload -- of salt. Synergy was the main selling point of the Time Warner-AOL merger. Then, the word took off in various spellings, including the utility Cinergy, now a part of Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK). There's Corporate Synergies, a benefits consulting company based in New Jersey, and Idaho-based Provider Synergies, which manages company spending on drugs.

The catch phrase resurfaced this year when General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM) mulled over an alliance with Renault SA and Nissan Motor Corp. Bloomberg News reported that "GM had figured an alliance would cut its purchasing costs by $1 billion to $2 billion; the Renault estimate was much higher, a person familiar with the talks said."

US Airways (NYSE:LCC) estimated that it could get "actual savings" of $1.65 billion over two years by taking over rival Delta Air Lines, Inc. Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) pointed out in its press release announcing the YouTube deal that the video sharing site "will operate independently to preserve its successful brand and passionate community." It will be interesting to see if everyone remains a happy Google family in the coming years.

Jonathan Berr is the editor of http://www.desperateinvestors.com.

Best & Worst: Synergy, like beauty, is a buzzword best described by the beholder originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 10 Dec 2006 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.