As readers of this blog know, buzzwords really get on my nerves. Luckily, buzzwords fall out of favor after a year or so; unluckily, they are replaced by other annoying buzzwords. Apparently, though, some of the most irksome have persisted since I wrote this blog in 2018. I have been keeping a list of irritating words and the only one I have to add to this lineup is: Tranche.
TRANCHE If you watch too much news, as I do, you have within the past few months heard the word Tranche several times per day. It is used to describe a lot of papers–i.e., a tranche of documents. I worked as a legal secretary during college, typing what must have been several tranches of legal papers but we called them by their names: pleadings, affidavits, transcripts….You get the idea.
WOKE
If you are “woke,” you are aware and likely sympathetic regarding a current issue. It is commonly used to describe a man who is a feminist. Ex: “He is so woke!”
CURATE
Here’s another irritating one. As Brian Sullivan of CNBC points out, “Curating used to be a word we only used in museums. Somewhere in the last year ‘curate’ has morphed into a word people are using anytime they pick something and want to sound like it’s more than just picking something.” As long ago as 2012, Scott Simon of NPR wrote, “How do I love thee? Let me curate the ways…”
UNPACK
Formerly applied to situations involving suitcases, to “unpack” has come to mean to examine in detail. Ex: “We really need to unpack this concept before we pursue the idea further.”
REACH OUT
Recently someone thanked me for “reaching out” to him. I had either called him or sent an e-mail. I had reached out as far as my phone or my keyboard. I put “reach out” in the same category as “sharing” (i.e., conversing).
If you are a regular reader of this page, you are woke to the fact that I curate my weekly blogs so that when I reach out to my readers, I write in such a way that these little essays are easy to unpack and add to the tranche of previous blogs.
