Get in touch

Top 10 buzz words to stop saying in 2021 😆

Rich Keller • February 5, 2021

Ready Set, STOP saying these words.

Drum roll....... Here it is, my list of buzz words you should drop from your vocabulary moving into 2021. Just like last year, I am trying to drop most of these words myself. I think it's a good reset to push your creativity and development forward into 2021.

These are my top ten buzz words that are starting to make me rethink the correct use and meaning. You know when you say a word too many times it starts to lose its meaning and just sounds like odd random sounds.

Make sure your next conversation with potential clients doesn't make their eyes gloss over and get that far away look. Let's jump into the words that make the person listening to you want to be anywhere but listening to your spiel.

1. Remote
If you are stranded in a far-off land with no paved road access, eating freeze-dried rations, and struggling to get one bar, then you are remote. If you are just using Zoom anywhere but in the office, you are just like everyone else. Communication is ubiquitous, it doesn't matter where you are, but yes, we can hear your family screaming in the background.

2. Virtual
Back in the early '90s communicating in any other manner other than face to face was some sort of magical miracle that was ubiquitous yet futuristic all at the same time. 20+ years later we can communicate in any number of ways using technology that anyone can download and use for next to nothing. We went from ICQ, MSN Messenger, Skype, GoToMeeting and now Zoom is the trendy one. It's just you and another person using software anyone can download for free. Zoom fatigue? Try too many meetings fatigue no matter the location if it's is in person, on zoom, or inside some fancy migraine-inducing headsets. We might be in a pandemic, but no one has taken so many meetings in their life. There's something to be said about closing the blinds, shutting down zoom, and throwing on the noise-cancelling headphones to get some much needed self-isolation.

3. Influencer
A 21-year-old living in 20,000 sq./ft. mansions, using and/or destroying tech you can't even buy yet with all kinds of sports cars in the driveway? It appears they are just doing it to make wholesome honest reviews. Riiiiight... (Dr. Evil Voice) It's just a commercial disguised as a lifestyle. That being said, what's wrong with people getting paid to promote products?

4. Fake News
Yeah, ew David!, it's all BS and the world is ending if I don't react post haste. Just assume every news "story" online is just an essay written hastily at 2 a.m. by someone also working at home to try and make stories you will click on and share so they can make a few bucks selling ads. It's all BS, but some BS gets more clicks than other BS. Upset about fake news? Stop clicking on it and the algorithms will bury it.

5. Curated
Picking up Lego off the floor and putting it in a container so you don't step on it, is called gathering or cleaning up Lego. Anyone can do it. Want to make it seem hip and thought-provoking? Put on a hat or toque that's too small for your head, hang out in Starbucks, and then pick up that same Lego? You guessed it, Curated Lego.

6. New Normal
Change is normal. If you stub your toe you will have a limp for a few days. Once it feels better you won't limp anymore. There, get on with your life.

7. Perfect
Most things in life especially common mundane situations are far from perfect but can still be great. It doesn't mean things are doomed if it isn't perfect. It's just quite hard to hope anything could be perfect, let alone multiple things a day. Perfect? Like, that's just your opinion man... Set your bar lower in the future and you'll find things are still quite good.

8. Growth Hacking
I've always found this a funny phrase. Does it imply there are many unknown or yet to be discovered way to sell the paper to people that need paper? Try this hack: Call them to see if they want paper, if they do, ask how much paper they want, and finally once you know how much paper they want, ask them how they want to pay for it. Now Repeat until your shift is over.

9. Crazy Busy
Are you Lucy trying to box the chocolates! If you cannot even answer a 1-minute phone call or text message without risking an additional 12 hours of overtime, you might want to rethink your scheduling methods. Summer Donna... In reality, you are telling everyone that you might have no idea what you are doing.

10. Irregardless
Disregard anyone who uses this word online or especially in person. Regardless of what you have heard, irregardless is not a real word, it does not exist. Stop saying it.

😜 BONUS WORD: Cancelled

Fictional TV shows about fictional people get cancelled all the time never to be heard from again. Remember Silver Spoons? Yes people can do stupid things online, but what happened to live and let live.