buzzwords

Most buzzwords are new terms driven by the latest developments in business, technology and culture, but a special few are older words given new life. "Sea change" is a good example, moving from Shakespeare to journalists and even government bureaucrats as it takes on new meaning.

Corporate buzzwords tend to come in and out of style, their popularity waxing and waning with the rise and fall of new management strategies and boardroom wordsmiths. The latest hot term has moved from the world of gambling to the management suite and beyond.

Buzzwords have a life cycle, gathering momentum until they grow common, then overused, then old. For "wheelhouse," a term that is currently cresting the popularity wave, this path has taken a long and curvy route, through baseball and boats, boardrooms and pop culture superstars.

The financial collapse has brought about many changes to our lifestyles -- from how we work (or don't) to how we spend our money and even to how we talk. These changes have prompted the creation of new terms, and the revival of old ones, to describe activities and actions that have gained new...

Every decade has its own language. In the 1920s, flapper became famous. In the 1960s, things were far out and cool and if you were broke, you wanted to make some bread. In the 1980s, everything was grody to the max. But it recently struck me by how many buzzwords the first decade of the 21st...