Thursday, July 17, 2008

Grammar Patrol

I got a memo that reads in part:

To support Jim*, we have on-boarded Joe Smith*, also from the Miami office. [...] As Jim has been onboarded, Bob Jones* will be rolling off the project on Thursday.

You cannot make an object like on board (with or without a hyphen) into a verb by simply adding -ed or -ing, like efforting ("We are efforting to complete the job"). This is part of the trend in business to use complex terms where simple ones will do in some kind of misguided attempt to sound professional.

It seems to be an inverse ratio in the business world: the smarter and more business-like people try to appear, the sillier they sound. They should just remember KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid.

(Cross-posted from Shakesville.)

*Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

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