As a writer, we love words. New words enter the patois constantly, and always good to keep up, what, eh? Some we appreciate; some leave us utterly gobsmacked. You needed to turn that noun into a verb? Seriously??? Sometimes they make sense. Ofttimes, we roll our eyes at the absurdity. Those are the ones that we know in our heart of hearts will lead us right down the rabbit hole

We thought we’d share a few that have entered the vocabulary, for better or for worse:

 

Parenting – we’ve said it before: a parent is a person and turning it into a verb created the danger of it being relegated to just another line item on the to-do list. We could arguably call it a gerund, but same basic problem, so let’s not go there. For example, the idea of participation badges showed up not too long after ‘parenting.’ Seriously? Competing is about learning from your wins and losses. No need to invent new concepts, certain parents, when all you really need to do is your job, so let’s simply abolish that word form, considering that what it has no doubt led to, among other things, is…

Adulting – it was only a matter of time before this one came along, and again, it’s an activity, rather than realizing that the base word – adult – denotes hitting a benchmark and accepting responsibility. Again, it has turned ‘adult’ into a line item: if you’re, say, taking out the garbage or going off to do some grocery shopping as the cupboards are bare, you’re ‘adulting.’ In other words, you’re engaging in activities that any adult knows is simply part of everyday life. Truth is, one needs to behave like an adult, rather than engaging in an adult-like activity before reverting back to one’s normal, no doubt puerile behavior.

Foundering – this one is a possibility, but not likely to surface, even in startup circles, as ‘foundering’ (v) is already a word, and while there are many founders out there with newcos to which the word might apply, not sure that the verb form in this case would be something that would be readily embraced.

Bromance – this one has been around forever, or at least since circa 2001, according to Merriam-Webster and is a cross between ‘brother’ and ‘romance,’ referring to that unique male bonding between brothers from another mother, according to the urban dictionary. Which leads us to…

Promance – Urban dictionary defines this as a ‘romance created to achieve PR goals.’ How 2010, which is according to UD, when the word first surfaced. Circa 2021, the word now refers to that instant bonding that takes place between two professionals, based on mutual admiration. In our point of view, it’s a keeper.

Cargo cult – According to Wikipedia, “isolated and pre-industrial island cultures that were lacking technology (during WWII) found soldiers and supplies arriving in large numbers, often by airdrop. The soldiers would trade with the islanders. After the war, the soldiers departed. Cargo cults arose, attempting to imitate the behaviors of the soldiers, thinking that this would cause the soldiers and their cargo to return. Some cult behaviors involved mimicking the day-to-day activities and dress styles of soldiers, such as performing parade ground drills with wooden or salvaged rifles.” In startup terms, cargo cults are newcos that are imitating the behavior of actual startups; a sort of fake it til you make it taken to the extreme, as given their approach, they just ain’t gonna there. Ever. Think ‘vaporware.’ Also think certain so-called investor and ClubHouse: fake investors giving ‘advice.’

 

Words have meaning and words have power, so always choose your wisely. We know that we usually cover tech, and there’s certainly a lot more that can be said about the Facebook ‘outage:’ we do know that there was a second Facebook/Instagram outage last week; about the latest Congressional hearings where whistleblower Frances Haugen testified; that Haugen is certainly no angel (and note to self, Whistleblowers don’t usually go public with a PR firm, press email contact, full legal team and a Senate appearance), nor Mark Zuckerberg the devil incarnate. Is regulation coming and would that make the world a safer place? What would regulation look like? Hope what’s happening in Australia is no indication and lest we forget, one of Facebook’s early investors was In-Q-Tel, which is the venture arm of the CIA. But we’re coming off a long holiday weekend, and while the Facebook saga is far from over, note to founders and speaking of words, there are those times when the less said the better. Onward and forward.