Sunday 9 May 2010

Buzzword Bingo

Buzzword Bingo is a much talked about, seldom seen, parlour game allegedly played by disenchanted participants on conference calls and in business meetings, the object of which is to humiliate the person most egregiously using buzzwords, by standing up and shouting "BINGO!" at a point (usually not defined) when this behaviour is considered to have gone on long enough, the implication being, of course, that you have a "card" marked with buzzwords, and the speaker has used all of them.
Of course, Buzzword Bingo never really gets played, because everyone knows that to get on in this world you have to use Buzzwords; the more you use the better (ceteris paribus) you'll get on, and therefore the less prudent it is for others (who, in order to be playing, one must assume, will use fewer buzzwords and ipso facto will be further down the food chain) to make fun of you. Because that would be career-limiting behaviour. 
This observation is part of the Buzzword Paradox, advanced to explain the ongoing prevalance of ridiculous figurative language in the financial markets.

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