"NY" wrote
| However the one word that still grates on my ears, several decades after I
| first heard it, is the business buzzword "leverage", as in "we will grow
(*)
| our business in order to leverage an increase in market penetration". OK,
I
| made that one up! I don't know whether it means anything because I've
never
| known *precisely* what "leverage" means. And anyway, in the UK we
pronounce
| the noun "leever" rather than "levver", so it would be "levverage" :-)
|

I think that kind of thing is getting worse because
a lot of effort is going into calculating language for
effect. White collar people often have jargon for their
particular trade and also jargon to make them sound
intelligent or dynamic or both.

Microsoft uses leverage a lot: "Leveraging solutions
across the enterprise". Which means make use of
software in business. My understanding of that is
that leverage, in that case, means the same thing
as using a stick to lift a heavy load; accomplishing
more with what you've got.

Software is not a solution, of course, until it solves
a problem. But the Microsofties like to grant it that
status beforehand. In fact, at some point they switched
from calling software projects in Visual Studio "projects"
and started calling them solutions. They don't even
exist as usable software yet, but they're already
solutions.

Personally I think that use of leverage is a case of
wanting to seem dynamic. Impact is similar. As in,
"that movie was so impactful I cried". Normally people
would probably say they were affected by the movie.
But that's qualitative. It can't be measured by science.

It's all a way of rendering experience in terms that
could almost be measured using physics equations:
leverage and impact. And of course the psycho-babble
"community" are only too happy to assure us that yes,
indeed, with the new dynamic MRIs we can measure
impaction scientifically.

But it seems to be more extreme with tech people,
who tend to lack a sense of poetry. They get used
to thinking in concrete terms. 1+1 always equals 2.
There's no qualitative aspect. No texture. No irony.
No ambiguity. I notice that in myself when I do
a lot of programming. Artfulness dissipates.

Experience is another interesting word. Microsoft
have adopted that in their marketing. They talk about
their products providing experiences, as though
experience itself were a measurable, buyable consumer
product.

I find the most extreme language aggression comes
from what I think of as liberal fascists. The politically
correct people who insist that everyone follow their
way. The left-wing equivalent of the Trumpian redneck.

For example, "cisgender", which means male or
female. Or rather, it means a man or woman who
actually believes themselves to be a man or woman,
and not some creative gender hybrid.

There's a lot of talk lately about non-binary
gender, which of course is a contradiction. But these
people assert their view that gender should be a
lifestyle freedom by denying that it has real existence;
asserting that it's merely a social device.

Thus, cisgender, or someone believing themselves
to be the gender that they are, defines one category
of gender and thereby creates endless new categories.
Cisgender implies the existence of transgender, bi,
hermaphroditic, or the gender of the week, as all
being equal *choices*.