Trendy Words I Do Not Like

[dismalist]

narrative

Use has exploded since 1960

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=narrative&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cnarrative%3B%2Cc0

It means attributing any meaning one wants to a circumstance or set of circumstances. Thus, we could have any number of narratives for the same sets of facts.

Narratives are like hypotheses. They can't all be right, but they can all be wrong. All or most survive because there is too little at stake for most people.

The explosion in the use of the word "narrative" seems highly problematic (another annoying trendy word), though the po-mos tell us that there are no objective facts.

Mercy! And the explosion in use started around the same time. It's that '68 generation!

Problematic and narrative have in common that they are words that needn't describe something correct or necessary to test or even testable. Could describe anything, really.

Story also took off after 1980, but evidence has gone down, especially since 2000. The trend is sad but clear.

Evidence might disturb the narrative, which could be problematic for the credibility of the story.

Moreover, gathering evidence requires work, a word in decline since the 1920's.

ETA: Original quote.

[marshwiggle]

narrative

Use has exploded since 1960

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=narrative&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cnarrative%3B%2Cc0

It means attributing any meaning one wants to a circumstance or set of circumstances. Thus, we could have any number of narratives for the same sets of facts.

Narratives are like hypotheses. They can't all be right, but they can all be wrong. All or most survive because there is too little at stake for most people.

The explosion in the use of the word "narrative" seems highly problematic (another annoying trendy word), though the po-mos tell us that there are no objective facts.

Mercy! And the explosion in use started around the same time. It's that '68 generation!

Problematic and narrative have in common that they are words that needn't describe something correct or necessary to test or even testable. Could describe anything, really.

Story also took off after 1980, but evidence has gone down, especially since 2000. The trend is sad but clear.

Evidence might disturb the narrative, which could be problematic for the credibility of the story.

Moreover, gathering evidence requires work, a word in decline since the 1920's.

Objective has also been fallling since 1980.

[dismalist]

narrative

Use has exploded since 1960

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=narrative&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cnarrative%3B%2Cc0

It means attributing any meaning one wants to a circumstance or set of circumstances. Thus, we could have any number of narratives for the same sets of facts.

Narratives are like hypotheses. They can't all be right, but they can all be wrong. All or most survive because there is too little at stake for most people.

The explosion in the use of the word "narrative" seems highly problematic (another annoying trendy word), though the po-mos tell us that there are no objective facts.

Mercy! And the explosion in use started around the same time. It's that '68 generation!

Problematic and narrative have in common that they are words that needn't describe something correct or necessary to test or even testable. Could describe anything, really.

Story also took off after 1980, but evidence has gone down, especially since 2000. The trend is sad but clear.

Evidence might disturb the narrative, which could be problematic for the credibility of the story.

Moreover, gathering evidence requires work, a word in decline since the 1920's.

Objective has also been fallling since 1980.

Well, yeah. Since then it's become increasingly recognized that there are no objective facts, just socially constructed facts.

As Sokal said, come to my 25th story apartment, jump off the balconey, and tell me about socially constructed facts.

[Hibush]

Well, yeah. Since then it's become increasingly recognized that there are no objective facts, just socially constructed facts.

As Sokal said, come to my 25th story apartment, jump off the balconey, and tell me about socially constructed facts.

A newspaper article I read today used "fact" as a synonym for "assertion", in a sentence making the point that the assertion was false and without basis.  Is "fact" even a social contruct now?

[Anselm]

In the past month I talked to two different recruiters about jobs and they both said that they wanted to be transparent with me.   Is this a new thing in corporate speak?

[dismalist]

In the past month I talked to two different recruiters about jobs and they both said that they wanted to be transparent with me.   Is this a new thing in corporate speak?

I love it! Don't mind my transparently self interested behavior. If you do, I'll

hold you accountable

.

My guess is that some communications specialist invents such terms and they spread through corporations so long as they sound nice and are meaningless. Let me know how you feel in terms of our core competencies.

[the_geneticist]

In the past month I talked to two different recruiters about jobs and they both said that they wanted to be transparent with me.   Is this a new thing in corporate speak?

Does that mean they will tell you the actual salary?

[Anselm]

In the past month I talked to two different recruiters about jobs and they both said that they wanted to be transparent with me.   Is this a new thing in corporate speak?

Does that mean they will tell you the actual salary?

The discussion had to do with timelines and how they needed someone ASAP.

[mamselle]

Where have you guys been?

Those terms have been used in corporate and academic settings in the way you're describing for at least 10-15 years that I know of.

M.

[dr_evil]

Sorry that I haven't read the whole thread yet; I just found it. I would have to add a lot of the terms that admin seems currently fond of: leverage, impact (unless used as something hitting something else), on-boarding (are we getting on a boat?), learner instead of student, etc.  Then there are the nouns used as verbs: adulting, etc. Those make me cringe.

My next edition of buzzword bingo will have lots of options.

[the_geneticist]

Sorry that I haven't read the whole thread yet; I just found it. I would have to add a lot of the terms that admin seems currently fond of: leverage, impact (unless used as something hitting something else), on-boarding (are we getting on a boat?), learner instead of student, etc.  Then there are the nouns used as verbs: adulting, etc. Those make me cringe.

My next edition of buzzword bingo will have lots of options.

I think some of them don't realize the Educational Jargon Generator https://www.sciencegeek.net/lingo.html is tongue-in-cheek site.

Edited to add: I think this gem sums up our curriculum redesigning committee
"We will problematize literature-based learning styles through cognitive disequilibrium."

[dr_evil]

I think some of them don't realize the Educational Jargon Generator https://www.sciencegeek.net/lingo.html is tongue-in-cheek site.

Edited to add: I think this gem sums up our curriculum redesigning committee
"We will problematize literature-based learning styles through cognitive disequilibrium."

Oh, that site is perfect. "Disequilibrium"? Ouch, my brain is screaming in terror. Equilibrium means a real thing to me in Evil Science.

And I have actually found a site to create a selection of Buzzword Bingo cards. I'm all set for my next faculty meeting.

[marshwiggle]

Sorry that I haven't read the whole thread yet; I just found it. I would have to add a lot of the terms that admin seems currently fond of: leverage, impact (unless used as something hitting something else), on-boarding (are we getting on a boat?), learner instead of student, etc.  Then there are the nouns used as verbs: adulting, etc. Those make me cringe.

When my daughter started working for a high tech company, and talked of "on-boarding" new *employees, my mind always jumped to water-boarding, and I can't get that sort of image out of my head.

(* or new clients)

[mamselle]

Let's see, 'on-boarding' came in with SAP/Oracle's Peoplesoft in, hmm...well, by 2005, anyway, when I was working at a place that used those things.

I'd say it had been in use at least 5 years before, because we had a second- or third-generation version of the software by then.

M.