I’ve been swimming drowning in buzzwords for a while, being into startups and all.

Beyond the birth of a new idea, where buzzwords are an efficient shorthand for something fresh and progressive, I’ve seen them become a liability as the idea starts to spread. They get misinterpreted, hijacked and used to exclude rather than include. Where they were once shorthand to communicate a common understanding, they become a way to disguise a lack of understanding.

Worst of all, I’ve seen a tendency to pull discussion towards abstract and semantic hair-splitting, rather than practical progress.

As an educator and community convenor, I’m trying to understand the best place for buzzwords, and keep them there.

Am I being ruthless? Or is it about time for a buzzword diet?