Corporate jargon is awful, agreed, and that list contains some egregious examples.
Other terms (in your list) have been so truncated (and contracted) that they have lost all semblance of their original meaning, when even the transposed sense of the original activity no longer applies, because the expression, or term used, no longer makes any sense.
For example, the expression "making hay", originally rose from agricultural practice, because it was part of a saying that went "making hay while the sun shines", or, (as an instruction, or piece of advice) simply "make hay while the sun shines".
In northern Europe, if you didn't "make" (or harvest) the hay "while the sun shone" - in other words, take immediate advantage of - seizing the opportunity presented by - a brief , fleeting, bout, or spell, of (perhaps unexpected) sunshine - or, a spell of dry weather - to harvest the hay, and dry (sunny) weather would then allow the hay to dry naturally, (for wet hay will not keep, and will spoil) - you could lose your entire harvest to those endless, wet, summers we sometimes have in northern Europe.
In earlier times, this could mean no fodder in the winter for your farm animals, a situation that could give rise to catastrophic consequences - having to kill, or sell your animals - at the worst, or, having to pay to buy in fodder rather than growing it (and saving it) yourself - which meant that the agricultural year cost you a lot more, at best.
Thus, the expression "making hay (or, make hay) while the sun shines" was perfectly understood in agricultural societies, and - in its entirety - seize the opportunity when a stroke of good fortune occurs - could be easily transposed to other contexts, settings and situations.
Personally, I deeply dislike this tendency to drastically contract words, and expressions, and sayings, - for, not only does this assume that everyone understands the term and the context in which it is used - but, worse, it sometimes serves to sever all meaning from the original context in which the term was used.
In my experience, much corporate jargon exists either to obfuscate - or mask, or disguise - what is truly being said (such as using the expression "cutting the fat" to reduce staff numbers - implying that firing people, or making people redundant - is equivalent to weight reduction, thus, inferring that it is somehow healthy), or, to confuse a would be audience, or, simply, to make the person (and body, company, business, or organisation) that uses it to seem somehow more energetic, efficient, busy and active - perhaps, even important - in whatever they are doing.
Last edited:
