Web site puts the spotlight on buzzwords and indecipherable press releases.It's fun, it's interactive, and it's educational. It's Buzzwhacker-in-chief John Walston's Buzzwhack.com, "dedicated to de-mystifying buzzwords." He defines "buzz-whacker" as "a person who receives some degree of pleasure in bursting the bubbles of the pompous." A recent visit to the site yielded the following weekly Buzzwhack Top 10: vortal, dotconomy, e-business, 24/7, dot.con, Napsterized, monetizing, eyeballs, touchpoints, seamless, seamlessly, and uniques. Latest additions to The Buzzwhack Compliant Dictionary include: B2C (Business to Consumer) Refers to a business communicating with or selling to an individual rather than a company. See B2B. , belly-buttons, brandstorming, CLM CLM - Career Limiting Move , courtesy call, exceedance ex·ceed·ance n. The amount by which something, especially a pollutant, exceeds a standard or permissible measurement. Noun 1. , forklift upgrade, legacy, percussive maintenance, reefer reef·er n. Marijuana, especially a marijuana cigarette. , swiped out, and vaporware Software that is not yet in production, but the announced delivery date has long since passed. At times, software vendors are criticized for intentionally producing vaporware in order to keep customers from switching to competitive products that offer more features. . The former Arthur Andersen consulting company also came under attack for its new name-Accenture. Walston comments, "Huh?" The site's "Whack of the Week" features corporate and government gobblegook as evidenced in their press releases. "Responsys.com," for example, "has earned this week's honor for this chest-beating media release. It's not clear what the real news is, but it is clear the company loves buzzwords and buzz phrases. An excerpt: Responsys.com, provider of the premier platform for optimized interactive marketing solutions, today announced the addition of numerous Global 2000 companies to its client roster in its fiscal fourth quarter, as well as a significant broadening of its product portfolio. The company announced that such leading brands as BMW BMW in full Bayerische Motoren Werke AG German automaker. Founded as an aircraft engine manufacturer in 1916, the company assumed the name Bayerische Motoren Werke and became known for its high-speed motorcycles in the 1920s. , John Deere Commercial and Consumer Equipment Division, SGI (SGI, Sunnyvale, CA, www.sgi.com) A manufacturer of workstations and servers, founded in 1982 by Jim Clark. The company was founded as Silicon Graphics, Inc., but changed to its acronym in 1999. , Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and CNN/Sports Illustrated, among others, are now active clients of the company's growing suite of cost-effective online marketing solutions. Responsys.com also unveiled Responsys Acquire, a service to assist customers with permission-based customer acquisition efforts by offering them access to over 120 million opt-in email addresses." Buzzwhack.com offers links to the full press release or media message of any it quotes from. Also, if you need the definition for a buzzword A term that refers to the latest technology or a term that sounds catchy. If not a flash in the pan, new technologies become mainstream. For example, Java was a hot buzzword in the 1990s, but should remain a major topic for decades. , you may check The Buzzword Compliant Dictionary-which includes a category for "e-words only." There's an awful lot going on at this site, including an invitation to add your own buzzwords or submit incomprehensible press releases and web sites, as well as two free e-mail newsletters: the daily Buzzword of the Day and the weekly Buzz Whackery--both of which also feature archives. Walston, d.b.a. A Tongue-in-Cheek Production of WalstonOne Communications, has been a consultant specializing in internet publishing since 1995. Before that, he was an assistant managing editor at USA Today and executive editor of The New Journal in Wilmington, Del. |
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