Business provides a rich seam for new words and the specialised jargon has become known as offlish, short for office English. Some recent additions to the genre may assist laggardly readers.

Arguably the oddest new term is ‘square-headed girlfriend’ for a computer, while a ‘chair plug’ refers to a person attending a meeting and contributing nothing. It might have been an ‘approximeeting’ arranged tentatively and flexibly for confirmation later, or not, as events dictate.

‘Delayering’ is an inelegant description for excising strata from a vertical corporate structure to create a flatter and ostensibly more efficient organisation. Training has been transformed in some places to ‘knowledge acquisition’, whereas ‘kissing your sister’ relates to information that fails to impress or enthuse.

‘Upstick’ is a portmanteau word for signifying an increase in anything. Solution is a comprehensively abused word in company names and services. It has become meaningless as a consequence and occurs primarily for effect. Private Eye lampoons misuse of the word fortnightly.

In electronic publishing and communications, the term ‘viral marketing’ has come to the fore where commercial messages are disseminated instantly through web technology. Brand owners can target thousands of customers through email, online advertising, and related strategies. ‘Bitlegging’ describes the unlicensed downloading of copyright material, while ‘ransomware’ denotes programs that illegally encrypt personal files to prevent access. ‘Blegging’ is the name given to a blog (web log) that solicits for money. Lack of space prevents identification of a multitude of other newcomers.

---

Lawrence Wallis has held international pre-press marketing positions and is now a respected author and print historian.