I quite enjoyed reading Monster Blog’s Top 10 Buzzwords Better Left in 2004. I couldn’t agree more with all the points, with the one exception of “best practices” (an expression I love to use). Here are a few more buzzwords I’d like to add to Monster’s list: “ahead of the curve,” “low-hanging fruit,” “leverage,” “mindshare,” and “action” (when used as a verb).

I remember a discussion last year with some staff at our client WellPoint. They were commenting on how a bunch of high-priced consultants had been brought in. During meetings it was almost a sure bet you’d hear these consultants use “low-hanging fruit” at least once. It was one of their favorite pet expressions. Oh, how all the staff who attended these meetings came to despise that expression! For them it was akin to running fingernails down a chalkboard.

A while back I wrote Speak the Customer’s Language – an article for Unlimited magazine about cutting out such buzzwords and marketing-speak from your web content. It’s still just as relevant today as it was in 2002.