Meme and Enterprise

I love when people toss around buzz words, it makes me not only giggle but chuckle.  Now there's a word you don't hear very often:  chuckle.

I even wrote a whole section in my first book about it:  Buzzwords Need Not Apply.

The problem with buzzwords is that they lose their meaning.  They become such standard fare and batted about so much that no one remembers what they are supposed to mean.  It cracks me up.  I even stopped someone (politely) the other day and asked them what one of them meant.  I couldn't really get an exact answer.  Exactly.

I actually have two favorites right now:  Meme and Enterprise.  I hear them all day long, and I'm sure you do too.  What exactly do they mean?  I mean, I know what they mean ... but what exactly do they mean when they get used constantly?  Try it ... ask different people and you will definitely get different answers!

I was in a meeting yesterday, and much to the collective giggles (not chuckles) of my colleagues I actually kept track of how many times the word "enterprise" came up.  I lost track after 20 minutes and 8  mentions.  I kid you not, all chuckles aside, it gets rather .... irritating, don't you think?

What's your favorite buzz word of the moment?  What's your experience?  Jim.

Jim Joseph
President, Cohn & Wolfe NA
Author, The Experience Effect series
Marketing Professor, NYU