I have been having my Rutgers seniors read Orwell’s On Politics and the English language since 2012. It’s a difficult article, as Orwell intentionally filled it with long sentences, obscure words and vague political speak in an effort to demonstrate bad writing while railing against it. Very meta.

Orwell took particular issue with dying metaphors (toe the line, ride roughshod over, stand shoulder to shoulder with, play into the hands of), pretentious diction (phenomenon, epoch-making) and meaningless words (patriotic, justice, democracy, freedom) in political writing, as they were lazy, vague and made it harder to understand what is actually being said.

Orwell explicitly lists six rules to prevent bad writing:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous

Ever since, I’ve been crossing out words, sentences and paragraphs in my students’ work. I scrawl “vague, stale, too wordy or what are you actually trying to say here?” all over their papers. I am much loved.

In 2018, I compiled a list of stale business phrases to show how Americans failed to heed Orwell’s advice and actually got dumber:

1. Give 110 percent
2. Think outside the box
3. Hammer it out
4. Heavy lifting
5. Throw them under the bus
6. Don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched
7. Pushing the envelope
8. Let the cat out of the bag
9. Let’s circle back
10. Win-win situation
11. Blue-sky thinking
12. Boil the ocean
13. Synergy
14. Low-hanging fruit
15. Take it to the next level
16. Barking up the wrong tree
17. Going forward
18. Let’s ballpark this
19. Run this up the flagpole
20. Back to square one
21. There’s no I in team
22. Back to the drawing board
23. Paradigm shift
24. Elephant in the room
25. Raise the bar
26. Drill down
27. Best thing since sliced bread
28. Deep dive
29. Skin in the game
30. Reach out
31. Touch base
32. Play hardball
33. Don’t reinvent the wheel
34. Kept in the loop
35. The bottom line
36. Down the road
37. I’ll loop you in
38. Hit the nail on the head
39. ASAP
40. Team player

I have pulled directors and executives aside after I’ve heard them utter these phrases and hit them with Oscar Wilde’s “you talk so much and don’t have anything to say.”

Last week, Marina Laurent, a current student of mine (and an Air Force Veteran, so double winner) wrote about how in other social work classes she has been taught about “person-centered practice” and “reports barriers to care.” My god. I’ve been railing against psychobabble and therapy-speak, the style of academic journals, vagueness, political doublespeak and TikTok talk for decades. Decades, dude. Oh to have lived in earlier times when people read more, wrote better and were eager to get vaccinated.

So, on to some villainous phrases that are used in 21st century social media, social work, psychology, academia, government and politics.

TikTok Talk

1. Triggered
   Strong emotional reaction framed as identity. The crown jewel disaster for preventing growth.
2. Gaslighting
   A specific form of manipulation turned into a synonym for disagreement.
3. Narcissist
   Clinical diagnosis flattened into a personality insult. If your spouse or ex is an actual narcissist, you might want to get evaluated to see why you were with them so long.
4. Avoidant
   Attachment shorthand used to explain incompatibility without effort.
5. Emotional unavailability
   Vague label that avoids naming needs, limits or expectations.
6. Breadcrumbing
   Intermittent interest reframed as pathology rather than ambivalence.
7. Love bombing
   A real behavior diluted by applying it to early enthusiasm.
8. Manifesting
   Magical thinking repackaged as personal agency.
9. Boundaries
   Important concept misused to shut down conversation.
10. Trauma dumping
    Sometimes real. Often used to avoid listening.
11. Red flag
    Actually a pretty good term. A few traits should be universally disliked, like being cruel or having a penchant for raping. There are others. The rest, though, are pretty arbitrary. In dating, two red flags for me are if she doesn’t read at least one book a month and if she spends more than 15 minutes on social media.
12. Healing journey
    Directionless process without goals or metrics. California hippie therapy.
13. Inner child
    Powerful metaphor misused as an excuse.
14. Emotional safety
    Undefined protection from discomfort.
15. Toxic
    In English, this means a substance or environment that causes death. In 21st Century America, it means a bad job, a bad boss or a bad boyfriend. “He literally poisoned me.” I don’t want to get into what literary means.
16. Hard launching
    Performative certainty.
17. Vibes
    A refusal to articulate thought. This is just an awful word.
18. Holding space
    Means nothing without behavior.
19. Doing the work
    Work unspecified. Outcome unclear.
20. Alignment
    Spiritual language used to avoid decision-making.
21. Unhealed
    True Orwell shit. Awful, stupid term. I can’t figure it out.
22. Core wound
    Speculative diagnosis with no treatment plan.
23. Self-abandonment
    Catch-all for regret. Again, just a radically stupid term.
24. Energetic match
    Astrology for relationships.
25. Hyper-independence
    Normal autonomy reframed as pathology.

---

Social Work and Psychology Babble

26. Trauma-informed
    Claimed without describing changes in practice. Most trauma-informed therapists and programs actually aren’t.
27. Client-centered
    Baseline ethics framed as innovation.
28. Evidence-based
    Which evidence? Applied how?
29. Best practices
    Consensus without specificity. There are so many places that say they use best practices that aren’t a good program. Meaningless.
30. Barriers to care
    Gestures at problems without naming responsibility. Shout out to Marina.
31. Strengths-based
    Used to avoid discussing deficits that matter.
32. Lived experience
    Ends debate rather than clarifies expertise: I’ve lived, worked and deeply consulted in the following institutions: military, law enforcement, secondary education, higher education, corrections, media, state and local politics and health care. I guess that means I understand the United States better than almost anyone then.
33. Safe space
    Safety from what: discomfort or harm?
34. Processing emotions
    Action-free phrasing.
35. Whole-person care
    Undefined scope.
36. Harm reduction
    Reduced how? Measured where? A lot of harm reduction people look like active drug users. That hurts the movement.
37. Meeting clients where they are
    Often means expecting nothing.
38. Empowerment
    Power undefined.
39. Resilience
    Jamba juice was closed. Annoying. I got through it though because I’m resilient.
40. Noncompliant
    Client won’t do what I say and isn’t getting better. He is non-compliant.
41. Treatment resistant
    Avoids examining quality of treatment delivered.
42. Clinically indicated
    By what standard? I train people to put down a diagnosis and to list which criteria they meet. That’s clear. Do you see the difference?
43. At this time
    Useless hedging.
44. Rule out
    Sometimes replaces reasoning.
45. Scope of practice
    Properly used, it protects clients and clinicians. Misused, it becomes a shield against competence. For example: autism, geriatrics and eating disorders are outside of my scope of practice.
46. Case management
    Real case management requires assessment, planning, referral and evaluation. Many places use the term and do none of it.
47. Stages of change
    A powerful model when clinicians actually assess stage and adjust approach instead of reciting theory.
48. Continuum of care
    Often imaginary. Often used to justify sending you to their other business.
49. Wraparound services
    Undefined bundle. A way to get more money out of you.
50. Clinical judgment
    Sometimes a cover for intuition alone.
51. Therapeutic alliance
    Important, but not sufficient. “We like each other” isn’t enough.
52. Self-care
    Someone must specifically cite the behavior and how it is helping. Otherwise this is sometimes an excuse to skip work or avoid the in-laws.

---

Education and Academic Language

53. Critical thinking skills
    Rarely defined or assessed. Very few teachers teach these. If you want to develop critical thinking, first do a take down of your own positions. That’s critical thinking.
54. Transformative learning
    Transformation unspecified.
55. Creating dialogue
    Dialogue toward what decision. Do you mean talking?
56. Inclusive pedagogy
    Methods unstated. Sometimes it is impossible to reach 100% of the classroom. Getting through to 80% is quite good.
57. Student-centered learning
    Buzzword without structure. You get to decide how to learn. What a world!
58. Experiential learning
    Working for free. Often for someone who doesn’t know what they are doing.
59. Scaffolding
    Educational jargon replacing explanation.
60. Learning objectives
    Written but not measured.

---

Government and Policy Language

61. Moving forward
    Temporal filler.
62. Stakeholders
    Obscures power differences.
63. Operationalizing recommendations
    Means someone else will figure it out.
64. Leveraging resources
    Resources unspecified.
65. Public-private partnership
    How to give public money to private businesses while looking virtuous.
66. Data-driven decision-making
    Which data. Interpreted by whom?
67. Systemic challenges
    Avoids naming actors.
68. Policy solutions
    Solutions without cost or enforcement.
69. Pilot program
    Delay tactic.
70. Task force
    Action substitute.
71. Anti-American
    Used to silence dissent.
72. -gate
    Suffix inflation that trivializes real scandals.
73. Culture war
    Distraction from economic policy.
74. War on XYZ
    I don’t agree with your criticism. The War on Christmas is one of the great 21st century exaggerations.
75. Whole-of-government approach
    Means nothing.
76. Evidence-informed policy
    Weaker version of evidence-based.
77. Best available science
    Often ignored. Sometimes funded by Exxon.
78. Capacity building
    Capacity for what?

---

Emotional Cushioning Language

79. This feels heavy
    No shit. Good therapy deals with hard stuff.
80. I hear you
    Acknowledgment without response.
81. That’s valid
    Conversation ender.
82. Let’s unpack that
    Often goes nowhere.
83. It’s complicated
    Usually true. Often lazy. Lots about life is complicated.
84. Sitting with discomfort
    Avoids action.
85. Showing up
    Presence without responsibility.

---

Corporate and Workplace Language

86. Synergy
    Meaningless.
87. Low-hanging fruit
    Avoids hard work.
88. Circle back
    They won’t circle back. Those were just words.
89. Deep dive
    Extended meeting. Usually a waste of time.
90. Reach out
    Contact.
91. Bandwidth
    I’m not your best worker.
92. Deliverables
    Tasks.
93. Next-level
    Unspecified improvement.
94. Paradigm shift
    Rarely one.
95. Win-win
    Usually not.

---

Cultural and Media Language

96. Narrative
    Often replaces facts.
97. Platform
    Inflated importance.
98. Amplify
    Broadcast without critique.
99. Problematic
    Accusation without argument.
100. Reframing
     Spin.

---

MAGA and Progressive Political Language

100. Law and order
     Arresting brown and black people.
101. Common sense reform
     You should agree with me.
102. Radical agenda
     Policy I dislike.
103. Mainstream values
     Undefined majority.
104. Woke
     An insult to be used when you don’t like policies that help Black people.
105. Cancel culture
     Social consequence reframed as oppression. If you rape, you should be cancelled.
106. Weaponization
     Criticism reframed as attack.
107. Deep state
     Institutional complexity. Often involving lawyers who uphold the law, turned into conspiracy.
108. Fake news
     Unfavorable reporting.
109. Populist movement
     Vague appeal to the people. Usually means they want free stuff for people like them but not for different kinds of people.
110. National conversation
     Media talking to itself.
111. Bipartisan solution
     Compromise without substance.
112. Protect our democracy
     Often rhetorical only.
113. Historic moment
     Every news cycle.
114. Lawfare
     Legal accountability reframed as persecution. More importantly, not a real word.
115. Freedom
     If I can’t do what I want, then I’m not free.
116. Parental rights
     Selective control over public institutions.
117. States’ rights
     Federal enforcement I dislike.
118. Election integrity
     I don’t want Democrats to win.
119. Traditional values
     Whose tradition, exactly? My ancestors drank wine out of the skulls of their enemies. For realz.
120. Centering voices
     Who chooses which voices matter?
121. Systemic oppression
     True in many cases, often poorly defined.
122. Words are violence
     If I break your lower leg into three distinct pieces, you’ll figure out what is actually violence.
123. Harmful rhetoric
     Speech I dislike.
124. Restorative practices
     Useful tool treated as universal solution. Often a political loser.
125. Power dynamics
     Sometimes analysis, sometimes conversation stopper. Often “I don’t like men.”
126. Decolonizing
     Often metaphorical, rarely literal. Comes across as anti-white. A political loser.
127. Radical empathy
     Empathy without limits. This is a stupid term. Empathy works just fine.
128. America First
     Was a Nazi-adjacent phrase in the 1940s.
129. Patriot
     Loyalty test, not civic duty.
130. Globalist
     Person I don’t trust. Really, this means Jew.
131. Elites
     People with education or power I resent.
132. Real Americans
     Not coastal urbanites who do yoga and like French food.
133. Hard-working Americans
     White people.

---

The Final Offender

134. Unprecedented times
     Every generation thinks so. The Bubonic Plague was really bad.

---

Many of these words or phrases often need to be explained to people. A rule in comedy is that if you have to explain a joke, then it isn’t funny. These phrases persist because people are lazy. Full stop. They allow the speaker to avoid precision, conflict and accountability. A few of these phrases are racist dog whistles, giving the speaker an out: “that’s not what I meant.” Yes it is. When language stops pointing to specific actions or decisions, it stops working.