Category: words

BLEEDING EDGE: “A product or service that is so new it has not been widely adopted by consumers and therefore carries a higher degree of uncertainty as to how it will fit in with existing goods and services. Something described as bleeding edge would be considered more advanced than something considered ‘cutting edge’. The higher degree in risk associated with the product or service means that the consumer might be “cut” by using such a new good if it fails to gain market acceptance. The term is often used to refer to new technology.” – Investopedia

The trouble with buzzwords is they quickly become clichés. I had a client who wanted their billing system described as state-of-the-art. When I asked what made it so, she replied that they had just added QuickBooks compatibility – in 2012.

Fortunately, I count quite a few true innovators among my clients. Of course, the trouble with being a true innovator is distinguishing yourself from impostors like my QuickBooks client. If everyone claims to be state-of-the-art or cutting edge, then what is a true pioneer to do? Innovate with words, of course! Others may be on the leading edge, but we are on the bleeding edge. Mmmm.

The only trouble is bleeding edge actually has a negative connotation – namely, technology that is so advanced or so outside the norm as to be risky. Anyone here invest in a Divx DVD player? A BeOS computer? How about Google Glass? You got cut by the bleeding edge, girl. Yes, you did.

So why saddle your company profile or marketing copy with such a deadly phrase? Is it because you heard someone else use it incorrectly? Or is it because you can’t bear to be plain-Jane leading edge? If you’re a true innovator, why not spend some of your R & D dollars on a copywriter? She’ll cook up any number of glittery words to describe your position of visionary global leadership in strategic best-in-breed future-tech development without resorting to iffy phrases like bleeding edge. Your marketing materials will still be riddled with tired clichés, but at least they’ll be the clichés you want. Put a Band-Aid on that, girl.

– Otto E. Mezzo

References: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bleeding-edge.asp

SHIBBOLETH: “1. an old idea, opinion, or saying that is commonly believed and repeated but that may be seen as old-fashioned or untrue; 2. a word or way of speaking or behaving which shows that a person belongs to a particular group.” – Merriam-Webster Dictionary

And the Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me go over,” the men of Gilead said to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” When he said, “No,” they said to him, “Then say Shibboleth (שבלת),” and he said, “Sibboleth (סבלת),” for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell. – Judges 12:5-6 (ESV)

Maybe I actually paid attention in Sunday School, but when I hear shibboleth, I think of the original Biblical definition, not the current meaning of “oft-repeated axiom.” Because shibboleth is a long, vaguely obscure word of foreign origin, it gets lots of play in the media and on conference calls everywhere. Ah, I thought, a perfect punching bag for Lexicide.com!

Imagine my surprise, then, to find the current definition goes back to 1862. In the 1600s, when people were more Biblically literate (if they were literate at all), when Anglophones heard shibboleth, they thought “watchword.” That changed over the next two centuries, I guess because passwords become rote when used too often. I wouldn’t classify this as a logical shift, but when are these shifts ever logical?

This doesn’t mean the original meaning has disappeared, but it has taken a backseat to the newer definition. This may be one lexicide that never truly dies, for what else would you call a loyalty test based on pronunciation?  According to some sources, American troops in the Pacific tested for Japanese infiltrators by making then say “lollapalooza,” an impossible feat for those whose native language has no L sound. (Chinese, Korean, and other oriental languages have the L sound, so any portrayal of a Chinese subbing Rs for Ls is wrong!)

So as the Gileadites knew, shibboleths divide, not unite. As a result, they receive a fair amount of opprobrium from “the expert class,” who sniffs at any whiff of provincialism. I care not. I have my own shibboleths – if you use these words correctly, I acknowledge your project requests. If not, well, let me introduce you to the paper shredder at the fords of the Jordan. Shalom, suckers.

– Otto E. Mezzo

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibboleth
Acknowledged in the article at http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/shibboleth:
American Psychological Association (APA)
Chicago Manual Style (CMS)
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

BAILIWICK: “1. the office or jurisdiction of a bailiff;  2. a special domain” – Merriam-Webster Dictionary

WHEELHOUSE: “an enclosed area on a boat or ship where a person stands to steer” – Merriam-Webster Dictionary

[IN ONE’S WHEELHOUSE] “Baseball (of a pitch): within the zone that is most advantageous for a batter to hit a home run” –Dictionary.com

Regular readers of Lexicide know what a grouchy, curmudgeonly bunch Lex and Otto can be. Nevertheless, we occasionally quit our grumping and play nice, and since the days are longer and the honeybees are aflit, we’re going to take a sojourn to the Channel Islands this month for bailiwick.

If you’ve never been (and I have not), the Channel Islands are picturesque (not picaresque!) storybook lands. They are also some of the last surviving bailiwicks in the world. A bailiwick is a territory presided over by a bailiff, a bailiff in this case being a magistrate who delivered and enforced summons and presided over the courts of the peasantry. In the United States, bailiff almost exclusively refers to the peace officers in courts who move prisoners around, but the word survives in its original form in Jersey, Guernsey, and the Channel Islands of Britain. The word has the same origins as bail (as the security you put up to gain your freedom while you await trial), but it does not share an etymology with bailey, as in the Old Bailey, the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales. In this case, the bailey is the fortress enclosure where the Old Bailey now stands. Both words, as with many English words in jurisprudence or military lexicography, come from the French.

So bailiwick as a description of your special dominion (of skill, knowledge, etc.) is self-evident. What about that other great buzzword du jour – wheelhouse? Everyone knows a wheelhouse is the bridge or pilothouse of a boat, but it’s also a baseball term for a batter’s sweet spot – the space in the strike zone where he has the greatest hitting power. Ah, now the metaphor becomes even more appropriate! Unless, that is, everything is in your wheelhouse, an expression I’m hearing more and more (“SaaS cloud platforms are firmly in our wheelhouse, and so is Bauhaus architecture!”).

Because, you know, companies want to be all things to all customers. Just remember the wheelhouse is the sweet spot. Everything else you can hit (even if you shouldn’t) is your strike zone. Beyond that – well, let’s just say you only get three of them.

– Otto E. Mezzo

Back in August, several of you took issue with folks using the word “jive” in place of the correct “jibe”: “That outcome doesn’t jibe with the data.” Another irksome confusion is the one betwixt tack and tact – too many people speak of changing tact when they should be changing tack. (Equally irksome is when you correct them, these folks claim tact is appropriate because one must have tact when throwing requirement changes at the team. When I throw changes at my team, I don’t need tact. I need body armor.)

What do these two lexicides have in common, aside from being wrong? They’re sailing terms. To jibe means to “swing a sail or boom across a following wind.” Tack refers to “a boat’s course relative to the direction of the wind.” So changing tack means moving the sail to change direction into the wind, and jibing – well, I’m not really sure how changing direction with the wind behind you translates into agreement or concord. Maybe it’s no surprise that jive supplants the term in the U.S. The Oxford American Dictionary defines jive as “a thing, especially talk, that is deceptive or worthless.” But come on, you don’t consult the OED for black colloquial, or jive talk – what you speak if you down with it. If you jive with what I’m saying, we’re two of the same mind. Solid.

One other sailing term that’s crossed into the mainstream is gaffe. A gaff is a “a spar to which the head of a fore-and-aft sail is bent,” and also “a stick with a hook, or a barbed spear, for landing large fish.” Supposedly, the landing of large fish morphed into the making of large blunders, hence gaffe. I don’t know. Sounds fishy to me.

(All definitions are from the Oxford American Dictionary.)

– Otto E. Mezzo