BUZZWORD COMPLIANT DICTIONARY
V

V2V: Voice-to-Voice. To speak to someone. "We'll touch base either by e-mail or V2V." V2V can be achieved by telephone, teleconferencing and old-fashioned face-to-face meetings.
Nominated by Chris Andrews

value-added: The cornerstone of modern marketing, it’s a business practice that closely resembles sleight of hand. Simply stated, a company tacks on extra features (service, warranties, additional products, etc.) to its product so the customer has difficulty comparing prices with the competition.

values: THE defining buzzword of the 2004 presidential election. While no one is quite sure what they are, both candidates were emphatic that theirs matched mainstream America.

value stream: Six Sigma buzzword that encompasses every step in the process of producing and delivering a product or service -- whether it adds value or not.
Nominated by Alan Johnston

vampire creativity: Marketing term for a commercial that is so creative and entertaining that people remember the ad, but not the product being sold. It essentially bites itself.
Nominated by Christine Patrick

vapor trail: The tell-tale sign of a co-worker who uses too much (and likely cheap) cologne or perfume. The lingering odor can be detected long after they’ve passed by.
Nominated by Renee Thompson

vaporware: It's software (and sometimes hardware) that has been announced (or intentionally leaked) that doesn't exist yet. At its worse, vaporware is a marketing ploy where a company announces the undeveloped software as a way to keep its customers from bolting to the competition's latest release. Preferring to simply upgrade as opposed to switching to a whole new system, most customers will wait. Then the company scrambles to make the product a reality. This is usually followed by several announced delays to "work out the bugs." More than likely it'll still be buggy when it finally ships.
Nominated by Lyn Laboriel

variable staff: Additional folks to do the job. They can be part-time temps or full-time employees borrowed from other departments to cover an increase in workload. "The fixed staff is 18, but in the summer we need 20 variable staff."
Nominated by Kevin DelVecchio

vehicular circulation: Traffic.
Nominated by Casey Neese

vendor agnostic: A solution or idea that does not require the use of any particular vendor in order to work. Also, a consultant who steers clear of endorsing any software or vendor.

vendorware: Freebies, such T-shirts, hats, bags, etc., imprinted with a company logo. Usually given away at trade shows and worn by slobs who have no intention of actually ever buying anything from the vendor. Sometimes spelled vendorwear.
Nominated by Keith Dennis

verbicidal: Condition that exists when a person believes he or she is skilled in the use of words (a verbalist), but in reality is grammatically challenged.
Nominated by Michael Troiano

verbing: It's Corporate America's favorite pastime -- the practice of turning perfectly good nouns into verbs. Example: "We're transitioning to the new building in April, just after we finish databasing the surveys."
Nominated by Cade Bryant

versatilists: Multi-skilled people who are experts in more than one field. "We're now in pursuit of 'versatilists' rather than generalists or specialists.” Not only can they write great marketing copy, but they can design the product, too.

vertical evacuation: To move to a higher floor (or higher ground). Heard frequently the past few years as the Gulf Coast has been pounded by hurricanes.

vertical trailers: Mass-produced townhouses.
Nominated by Sandra Kraybill

VC: Hey, Baby Boomers! It’s not the Viet Cong. Today’s VC are the people who fueled the dot-com explosion (and the resulting implosion) -- Venture Capitalists. Their modus operandi: Give a fledgling company with a semi-unique idea millions of dollars. Then push it to go public as fast as possible so the VC can triple their money and get out before it crashes.
Nominated by Bob Garrett

Very Low Food Security: According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, people who can't put food on the table at least part of the year aren't "hungry," they just have "Very Low Food Security."
Nominated by Aunt Shecky

viewshed: In national park parlance, it's the technical term for whatever you can see from a given spot. To the tourist stopped at an official overlook, it's simply "the view."
Nominated by Dennis Davis

vindictivity: The act of being vindictive. A spiteful action. "Keying someone's car is a vindictivity." (It's also downright mean.)
Nominated by James Rardon

viral marketing: Once it was called word-of-mouth. But e-mail changed all that. Now one person e-mails 10 friends about his way-cool Web site and they e-mail 10 friends and they e-mail 10 friends . . . After awhile, the whole world is beating a path to your door. Not to be confused with a bad chain letter.

virtual database: If computer databases are nothing but bits and bytes, aren’t all databases virtual? But, as we know, everything on the Internet has to be different. So, any database connected to the Internet is considered a virtual database.

virtualing: Sounds like something you should do at an Internet séance. It’s what happens when one Web server reaches into the database of another Web server and retrieves information stored there.
Nominated by Amado Izaguirre

visioning: One buzzword to replace another buzzword. Instead of "brainstorming," it's now visioning.

v-mail: E-mail with only one purpose -- to spread a virus. “Lately I’ve gotten more v-mail than e-mail.” This definition is quickly being replaced with "video e-mail."
Nominated by Wirkman Virkkala

voodoo statistics: To twist statistical information to make bad data seem good. Example: In a race between two cars, the loser reports that he finished second and his opponent finished next to last.
Nominated by Britt Canada

vortal: First there were Web pages, then Web sites, then Web directories, which morphed into Web portals. Now some portals have gone vertical and have become vortals. Where portals were general gateways to the Internet with lots of links to interesting things, news and search engines, vortals serve a specific niche, such as an industry, job function, even hobbies.

voted off the island: To get booted from a team, task force or committee. Also, to get fired or laid off. "Jack no longer works here. He got voted off the island."
Nominated by Scott Haddon

VSP: Currently in vogue, it's corporate-speak for buyout. The Voluntary Separation Program offers Voluntary Separation Packages (financial incentives) to encourage employees (hopefully older and higher paid) to voluntarily leave so a company can reduce the workforce and lower expenses.
Nominated by Patrick Kerr

vuja day: The distinct feeling you've NEVER been here (or heard this) before. Psssst! It's the opposite of deja vu.
Nominated by David Wellons

Vulture Capitalists: Before the Dot-Com Crash, venture capitalists were considered angels. Afterward, they earned their new moniker by turning on their digital babes.