3 buzzwords that totally suck

It’s not very often that words themselves irritate me, but sometimes enough is enough. Every year theres always a new set of keyphrases or mash-ups of existing words that represent something we already named but now we gotta do it this way because someone else gave it a cooler name. Bah humbug.

“Longtail Linkbaiting”

This one cracks me up for 2 reasons. First off, this is just another way of saying “Creative Title Writing” for a blog or article, and second off, when did regular links have a short tail? Ever look at a magazine cover before? If you answered no, you concern me deeply and you need to put down the Star Wars figurines.

Assuming that you have seen a magazine cover, look at how they only have one sentence to draw your attention and make a story sound appealing enough for you to read the whole thing. The text of your links are the same way. And it’s always been that way (with the exception of the “click here” or “read this” link text people).

“Niche”

It’s not so much the word, but how it’s pronunciation suddenly changed and I never was informed until it was too late. I remember this word having the sound of “nitch”, rhyming with hitch. Maybe it’s different depending on where you live in the US or maybe me and quite a few other people I have talked to have been butchering this word… I dunno.

Now it went and got all fancy on me and it sounds neesh marketing. What happened here? When did this word get all French and sophisticated? If anyone can clarify for me which way is right, I would really appreciate it.

“Meme”

I’ve seen this stupid word until I’m ready to slam my head into my desk. I think this word needs to retire and as soon as possible. Considering that this word is more relevant in the science community (see this wikipedia entry on it), I just can’t find a good correlation or applicable use for it in my life. But it’s in heavy rotation on all my favorite blogs at least 3-5 times a week. Please.. let’s move onto new words.

What kind of catchphrase would you come up with and what would it mean?

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