BUZZWORD COMPLIANT DICTIONARY
P

pain points: Now the BuzzMakers are stealing from the acupuncturists. Business consultants use "pain points" as a term to describe the places where a business feels the "pain" due to poor operational structure, bad software or good, old-fashioned inefficiencies.
Nominated by Ken Bryson

pajamahadeen: The new media watchdogs. Bloggers who spend their days surfing the Net, challenging and fact-checking the traditional media.

paper-form factors: Geek-speak for printed matter, particularly distasteful, old-fashioned things, such as newspapers and books.

paperweight: A useless product or service which does little more than exist. Often thrown in during a sale to give the appearance of "adding value."
Nominated by Daniel Wang

paps: Paparazzi. "There was a scuffle when security tried to stop the paps from snapping Julia Roberts."
Nominated by Mark Worden

paratourist: One who lives in or near a major metropolitan area but still wanders aimlessly or gets lost while touring the area's locales of note. Example: A Chicago paratourist would have trouble finding the Sears Tower.
Nominated by Roger Sullivan

Pareto Principle: The business truism also known as the "80-20 rule" – 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers. But ol' Vilfredo Pareto, the 19th-Century economist, may have been wrong. The harsh reality: Today's split tends to be closer to 90%-10% or even 95%-5%.

parking lot: Used to keep meetings on track. It's a separate sheet of flip chart paper where good ideas not on topic are recorded. Supposedly they'll be brought up at a later meeting but are often forgotten altogether.
Nominated by Lynne Westphal

passing the trash: The practice of transferring a problem employee to another department without alerting the supervisor to the person's objectionable traits.
Nominated by Tsvi Goldstein

path persistence: To follow the beaten and established path. For hikers, an intelligent approach that conserves energy. For businesses, a strategy that generally results in loss of market share.
Nominated by Fuller Karricker

Paula Abduling: 1) When two people engage in a duel of opposite opinions -- often stooping to personal insults. 2) Giving perky, positive feedback in an effort to spare someone's feelings. “I think she’s just Paula Abduling me.”
Nominated by Fritz Liess

PDB: Thanks to Condoleezza Rice, PDB have replaced PDF as the most oft-repeated letters in the English language. They stand for President’s Daily Brief, the daily classified intelligence report that keeps the President abreast of world developments.

PDFing: Talk about words morphing. Once this term described the process of turning a document into an Adobe PDF (portable document format) file. But now it has become a mild curse word, as in: "Where's that PDFing document! I had it right here."
Nominated by Edward Becker

peanut-butter spread: The act of taking meager resources (budget, staff, etc.) and spreading them as thin as possible to cover the most projects. "We're gonna have to do a peanut-butter spread in Marketing come September."
Nominated by Heather Coburn-Schill

pebcak: An acronym used by techies to describe a "problem" when the user is in the room. "Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard."
Nominated by Steve Wroblewski

pencilator: Meeting facilitator's assistant. Person given the "responsibility" of taking notes on the big flip chart during meetings.
Nominated by Steven Whittle

pepper, re-pepper: To "spice up" an existing offer or proposal by giving it a new twist or additional features that appear to add value. "We need to re-pepper the solution."
Nominated by Suzanne Pietrowski

percussive maintenance: The time-honored art of whacking the heck out of something to get it running again. Long performed on vending machines, it has now migrated to hard drives and computer monitors.

permission marketing: If you’re wondering why anyone is listening to Seth Godin’s Ideavirus concept, then you need to read his first book, "Permission Marketing." Seth puts forth the brilliant concept that the most effective marketing on the Internet is to get people to give you permission to market to them. If you’ve signed up for an e-mail newsletter, then permission marketing is working.

personal coordinates: An individual's contact information: name, address, phone number, e-mail, etc. "Please leave your personal coordinates at the tone." Also: "Could you get me Jack's coordinates?"
Nominated by Susan Walton

personal inertia: HR-speak referring to someone's lack of motivation, procrastination or simple laziness. "Jake has personal inertia issues."
Nominated by Dave Sorgen

pet parent: Feel-good term for pet owners that supposedly elevates the relationship between them and their animals to a higher level. (Subtle reminder for "pet parents": The law doesn't require you to have a license to have children, but you do have to have one for your dog.
Nominated by Randall Becker

PFBNB: Paid For But Not Bought. The popular defense chosen by politicians that contends while they hobnobbed, consulted and took the campaign contributions of unsavory individuals or companies in trouble, they're not beholden to them.
Nominated by Mark Worden

PFA: Business shorthand (commonly used in e-mail) for "Please Find Attached."
Nominated by Radhakrishnan Thampi

PFE: Purpose For Existing. "This purchase aligns perfectly with the company's PFE."

PGP: Stands for Pretty Good Privacy and it's an encryption technology given away free by MIT. Result: It's one of the encryption standards on the Internet. When someone PGP's something, they've encrypted it.
Nominated by Sid Djerfi

phase 2: Once upon a time it actually referred to something that was scheduled to happen during "phase 2" of a project. "Phase 2" is now more likely a myth and is used to bury new (and unwelcome) ideas. "That's a great idea for Phase 2."
Nominated by Marko Bon

phenomeniche: A marketing phenomenon that appeals to a small niche. Example: Trading Spaces, the TV series. While not a sweeping global phenomenon, it is the undisputed titan of one modest patch of pop-culture.
Nominated by Christopher Simpson

phisher sites: Bogus Web sites that fish for personal data such as credit card and Social Security numbers from unsuspecting consumers.

phonality: A phony TV reality show.  The show may be unscripted, but it’s manipulated by the producers to ensure the right outcome.
Nominated by Terry Porter

phonesia: a) The affliction of dialing a phone number and forgetting whom you were calling just as they answer. b) The inability to remember where in the house you left your portable phone.
Nominated by Joeth Barlas

photox: The process of digitally removing wrinkles and blemishes from a photograph of one's face by using Adobe Photoshop or other image manipulation software.
Nominated by Rick Roach

PICNIC: Problem In Chair, Not In Computer. Techie-speak for user error. Mug, shirts available
Nominated by Colleen Kingsbury

ping: To get someone's attention. "We're behind on the project. Make sure you ping Jim to get the ball rolling." Stolen from the Internet world where it's a command that searches to see if an Internet address exists and is accepting requests. And us old timers knew it as the sound from a submarine's sonar.
Nominated by Steve Buccola

Pitt Principle: The Peter Principle says managers fail because they rise to their level of incompetence. The Pitt Principle says that sometimes incompetence is exactly what the people in charge want. Coined by columnist Paul Krugman in The New York Times in reference to SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt for his repeated efforts to water down SEC enforcement.
Nominated by Mark Worden

planful: A word created by those who think "well-planned" isn't adequate. A favorite of academics and marketers (particularly PR execs). "We have to allocate the time of senior management in a planful way."
Nominated by Erik Bergman

planned spontaneity: Dubbed a trend by Trendwatching.com and aided by wireless phones, PDAs and a host of ways to make instant reservations, consumers are intentionally planning to make last-minute decisions with their entertainment dollars to add a little excitement and spontaneity to their lives.

plate lickers: People who show up for the free food. Could be members of a customer's staff who invite themselves to a working lunch. They provide no input, have no decision-making authority, generally dress slovenly and order the most expensive thing on the menu. After lunch, they will go back to their cubicles and complain about you, the restaurant and their station in life.
Nominated by Gerry Crawley

platform agnostic: You’re in technology heaven when your software is platform agnostic. It means it’ll run on any computer operating system: Linux, Unix, Windows, Mac, etc.
Nominated by Jason Karpf

platform diving: You're platform diving when you can choose between the Web, TV, paper, etc. as a delivery method to get your message or product out. It's another way of "leveraging" your content. The great news: You don't need a 10-meter board or a bathing suit.
Nominated by Richard Curtis

playlistism:  The discrimination of others based on their iTunes playlist. Related term: iPod Envy.
Nominated by Mark Worden

plog: A project log. Usually a Web log used to track developments and promote discussions between the folks working on a project together.

plowing water: To do something that has no lasting effect; such as working on a project that makes no meaningful contribution. "The CEO says it's important, but in truth we're just plowing water trying to impress the shareholders."
Nominated by Diane Walkowiak

plutoed: To be unceremoniously dumped or relegated to a lower position without an adequate reason or explanation. Mug, shirts available
Nominated by Cecil Pinto

pocket call: The accidental speed-dialing of a friend, spouse or business associate while carrying your cell phone in your pocket. Result: They discover the real you as they listen to 18 minutes of jangling coins and muffled repartee.
Nominated by Eileen Blass

pocket of resistance: Military term borrowed by business to describe a person or committee that attempts to stall or kill a project by nitpicking it to death or simply letting it die by not returning your calls.
Nominated by Ward Smith

pockets of resistance: What you encounter at your annual review when it's time for the boss to calculate your pay raise.
Nominated by Dave Anderson

podcast: An pre-recorded audio program, such as a talk show or educational seminar, that can be purchased at iTunes and downloaded to your iPod.
Nominated by Mark Worden

Poddies: Any of the growing number of truly obsessed iPod-toting loyalists. (Also, anyone who actually believes there are 10,000 songs out there worth listening to.)
Nominated by Stephen Hannaford

podfading: What happens to the vast majority of podcasts. After the initial excitement of producing your own podcast (which occurs about the 10th show), the thrill wears off. You realize very few people are listening or really care for your efforts -- and that the whole podcasting thing is a lot of work. So you just fade away.

Pointy-Haired-Boss (PHB): The boss character in the comic Dilbert that has come to represent all clueless managers, especially those who are technologically challenged.
Nominated by David Miller

politainer: An entertainer turned politician who makes extensive use of his or her entertainment friends and connections in the effort to get elected. (Yes, Ah-nold is the latest example.)

politically tone deaf: The failure to pick up on cues from those around you. Often caused by arrogance. "The police commissioner was forced to resign, in part because he was politically tone deaf."
Nominated by Janet LoFurno

pop-off: If pop-up and pop-under ads weren't annoying enough, these Web ad nuisances open off center with the close window buttons unreachable, making them next to impossible to close without dragging them back to the center of your computer screen.
Nominated by Bob Morrell

pop-under: A browser window that opens behind your active one. It usually carries an ad and is considered less annoying than a "pop-up" window, which obstructs the page you've clicked to. This marketing technique only annoys you after the fact.

pop-up retail: A planned “here today, gone tomorrow” marketing strategy. This growing phenomenon uses temporary sales booths in malls or traveling mobile stores to market a specific product, event or brand for a limited time.

portal pottie: A poorly designed and executed Web portal.
Nominated by Thomas Pitre

possumist: Someone (generally in upper management) who ignores the truth in the hope that the facts will change or simply go away before disrupting his or her theory.
Nominated by Jeremy Sherman

post-bubble: A period of economic slowdown after an economic boom.

post mortem: A meeting at the completion of a project or event to dissect what worked and didn't work -- supposedly for the purpose of improving the process but more often to assign blame.
Nominated by Paul LaVigne

post turtle: Reference to any dumb person, particularly a politician. When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle. You know he didn't get there by himself, he doesn't belong there, he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, and you just want to help the poor stupid thing get down.
Nominated by Sue Gemmell

potentialize: To strive for maximum potential. Term created using one of the BuzzMakers’ favorite techniques -- adding “ize” to any noun.
Nominated by Paul Casey

PowerPointless: The spicing up of business presentations with unnecessary animation and seemingly important yet uninformative charts and graphs. Result: More sizzle than substance.
Nominated by David Roberts

PowerPoint engineering: Presenting concepts that look good in PowerPoint but don't work technically. In 2004, NASA was chided for too much PowerPoint engineering and that they should back to writing full reports, not just bulleted slides.
Nominated by Bob Witte

PowerPoint project: Any project where the only thing actually produced was a PowerPoint presentation outlining the project team's original grandiose plans.
Nominated by John Cornellier

PowerPoint singalong: A presentation read verbatim from the slides without observations, notes, comments or asides of any kind. Monotone optional, but not required.
Nominated by Mark Simon

PP2P: First, there was P2P (peer-to-peer), the principle of which was embodied by Napster and instant messaging. Now the concept has expanded to include things such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and digital phones. That's called PP2P, personal peer-to-peer. Got it? Okay, first there was …

prairie dogging: A modern office phenomenon. Occurs when workers simultaneously pop their heads up out of their cubicles to see what's going on.
Nominated by Bud Porter-Roth

pre-allocate: To allocate something before it's allocated. Huh? Another in the long list of mind-numbing and unnecessary "pre" words.

prebuttal: A preemptive "counterpoint" to an expected argument. "The Democrats began their prebuttals two days before the president's State-of-the-Union address."
Nominated by Max Matthews and Amy Eisman

precycle: The act of stealing aluminum cans from someone's recycling bin just prior to the recycling truck arriving -- and then selling them for cash.
Nominated by Mike Boyle

preferred customer: Designation that implies special treatment, but primarily means the company has pegged you as someone who buys frequently and pays your bill on time.
Nominated by Greg Loveless

pre-gaming: Also known as pre-drinking. Since the under-12 crowd can't drink legally, they frequently binge drink before going out - whether it's to the game or a night out on the town.

prehistoric text: An old text message. Given the speed with which things change today, it could be a text message that you received only last week.
Nominated by Robert M. Hensel

pre-integrated apps: Huh? How do you integrate something before it’s integrated? Oh, by the way, apps are software applications.

premumble: Opening comments by speakers (or writers) before they begin their real presentations. Hopefully interesting, frequently not.
Nominated by Ashley Bogle

pre-owned automobile: A brilliant marketing ploy that has convinced millions that instead of buying someone else’s problem, they’re lucky to be buying a car that’s been properly broken in by the previous owner.

prepone: To move forward in time. The opposite of postpone. "The Wednesday meeting has been preponed to Tuesday."
Nominated by Bob Morrell

presenteeism: When employees are so worried about/devoted to their jobs that they won't leave or take time off -- even when it is in their best interests. The opposite of absenteeism.
Nominated by Susan Walton

preso: Shorthand for presentation, usually done in (what else?) PowerPoint.
Nominated by Mike Zraly

pretexting: To pose as someone else in order to obtain that person's private phone records or other personal information - a practice that has managed to topple the leadership of Hewlett-Packard in recent weeks.

previously undetected recruiting error (PURE): Used to describe a recent hire who looked good on paper but has proved to be somewhat lacking once on the job.
Nominated by David Hilary

preward: A reward given in advance as motivation to tackle a big project.
Nominated by Paula Johnson

pre-work: Any work that needs to be completed before the real work begins. (Another in the long list of unnecessary "pre" words)

price-optimized: Something sold as cheap as possible, particularly a stripped-down version of a previously successful, but expensive product. However, the price-optimized version is likely to have more flash and less substance.
Nominated by David Hatchuel

proceduralize: To formalize a process in writing, liberally adding buzzwords and company acronyms to make it sound far more complicated and important than it really is.
Nominated by Suzanne Egbert

productize: Another one of the dreaded "ize" words that the BuzzMakers seem so fond of. Basically, it means to take something that is not a product and turn it into a product. Duh!!! In the tech world, you would turn a raw technology into a marketable product. And individuals can turn their skills and talents into products, too. Most companies have already productized their customer service.
Nominated by Tim Kinnel

Professional Learning Community: A school faculty.
Nominated by David Walker

programmatics: Sounds like it should be an exotic word game, but it’s everyday language at the Pentagon. It’s the inner workings or logistical details of a government program.
Nominated by James Meek

prostitot: A pre-adolescent girl whose dress and manner exudes sexuality -- more closely emulating Britney Spears than Shirley Temple.
Nominated by William Barrett

pseudo variety: Marketing technique by major companies to elbow smaller vendors off store shelves. They extend their brands by creating a pseudo variety of similar products made in almost exactly the same way. Example: Budweiser alone produces Bud Light, Bud Dry, Bud Ice, Bud Ice Light, Michelob, Michelob Light, Michelob Dry, Michelob Ultra, Busch, Busch Light, Busch Ice, Natural Light and Natural Ice. Coors and Miller pretty much do the same.
Nominated by Stephen Hannaford, www.oligopolywatch.com

Psyche! Forget the academic definitions. Among the young it means "just kidding." As in: "Bill Gates is my dad." Pause. "PSYCHE!"
Nominated by BuzzWhack's children

Pulp Pilot: A non-electronic and time-honored method for keeping telephone numbers and addresses. Generally consists of a small, folded piece of paper that can be tucked into a wallet or purse.
Nominated by Bob Wiley

pure play: This term came up a lot with the rise of the dot-coms. The stock market spent a lot of time chasing Internet pure plays. In this context, it is a company that only does business on the Internet or sells only to Internet companies or provides only Internet services. Basically it lives or dies with the success of the Internet. Warning: Pure plays often die. Can be applied to any company with a clearly defined niche.

purpled out: Out of the office. Taken from Outlook calendar, which generates a purple bar when someone is “out of office.” "I tried to invite you to the meeting, but you were purpled out for the day.”
Nominated by Susie Cook

purple state: An election battleground state where support appears to be evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. On election maps, Republican states are generally colored red and Democratic states blue. Hint: Mixing blue and red creates purple.

pushback: Feedback. Usually negative and requiring reassessment. "Let's float the idea out there and see if there's any pushback."
Nominated by Glenn Fannick

pwn: Own, to soundly defeat someone. A typo that has become part of video game lingo. Instead of "I own him," it's become "I pwn him."
Nominated by David Steakley