8 Media Buzzwords That We've Lost Forever

How precise industry terminology became vague and cliché

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We’ve long lamented the rise of trendy language in advertising and business, but while we’ve played buzzword bingo and occasionally pointed fingers at those who speak in clichés, something more serious lies beneath the jargon.

Illustration: Giacomo Bagnara

The catchphrases we use serve as a shared language—they’re how we signal our belonging to the tribe of marketers. But when highly precise terms are misappropriated in an attempt to project a false sense of authority, that’s when we lose meaning.

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