By: Susan Finco, President, Leonard & Finco Public Relations
All words
have a lifecycle; like fashion, they go in and out of style. But some words seem to become the word du
jour out of the blue and then, once they gain a little traction, the word (or
words) are everywhere to the point of being over-used.
Take the
word “pivot.” Growing up, I always
thought pivoting was something you did in ballet or in basketball. Then, in business, I learned about a pivot
table, which is a data summary tool. Still, these were pretty limited uses of
the word; but now, that’s all changed.
Pivot- and
pivoting – are the word darlings of 2016. They are being used for everything
from political to sports business decisions to online gambling. Here’s a
sampling:
- Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., speaking on MSNBC's Morning Joe, said of Trump: "He still has time to pivot — Time is running short, but he has time to do that." (MSN.com)
- Hilary Clinton Pivots Toward Donald Trump in Pennsylvania (The Wall Street Journal)
- Marco Rubio pivots to his next stage (POLITICO headline)
- Did NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell pivot on the Redskins? (Headline – Washingtonian)
- Fan Duel Picks and Pivots for MLB
Frankly, all
this pivoting is making me dizzy! I
don’t have a problem with old words getting a new life but, like most over-used
words, this one’s time has come and
should be long gone by now. And I don’t’
think I’ll pivot on that opinion. What
over-used words would you like eliminated (or maybe just reduced) from our
vocabulary?
No comments:
Post a Comment