Christian J. Robinson: Words I Hate

These are words I hate to hear. Not because they're inherently annoying, but because our culture has latched onto them like something new and shiny, overusing and misusing them to the extreme. Some call them buzzwords.

"Bifurcate"
Why not just use "forked" or "divided" or any number of other words that almost always make more sense?
"Diametrically"
Someone once said, sarcastically, "Never use a short word when a long one will do."
"Empower"
David P. Murphy said, "If you really did have control over your work, you wouldn't have had to come up with a word like 'empowered'."
"Ergonomic"
I have seen this word on a box of Keebler Town House Toppers (crackers): "Ergonomic Construction – Designed to simplify your topping experience."
"Facilitate"
An overused buzzword.
"Fruition"
Another overused buzzword.
"Gifting"
Usually misused. "Visit our store for all your gifting needs."
"Paradigm"
Another overused buzzword.

"Signage"
I just don't like this word, and I thought it was a made up variant of "signs" the first time I heard it.
"Specificity"
I didn't think this was even a real word the first time I heard it.
"Sticktoitiveness"
It's not even a real word (note the "Usage: colloquial").
"Sustainability"
From "WorldNetDaily: Creeping tyranny": "sustainability is a community's control of capital, in all of its forms – natural, human, human-created, social and cultural. ..."
"Synergizing"
Yet another overused buzzword.
"Team Player"
This has become a whole separate rant.
"Tonite"
As the link shows, this is not a synonym for "tonight".
"w00t"
Haaaaaaate!—There's so much wrong with this one that I don't even know where to begin.

Of course, I'm not the only one that finds buzzwords to be borderline ridiculous, just do a Google search for "buzzword bingo".