..WSJ article on invented words..

[Gareth Branwyn]

Hmm. Interesting. The page does appear to be down. I wonder if Wired
already has their lawyers on the case. They are quite litigious and I'm
sure they consider "Jargon Watch" to be their established "brand." I
just emailed my editor to inquire.

Gareth


GSCole wrote:

> The Wall Street Journal of 15 May 2002, on p.B1, has an article that
> discusses the use of invented words in the New Economy.  The title of
> the article, in a Cubicle Culture column by Suein L. Hwang, is It Was a
> WOMBAT for the Meatware, But It Was a Good Sell.
>
> The article begins with the sentence "Invented words, invented
> reality".  Naomi Baron, linguistics professor at American University is
> quoted with the statement:  "If I'm paying big bucks, I'll go with the
> person saying a lot of mumbo jumbo, because I'll assume that person
> knows more."
>
> The article suggests that a glimpse "at this dreamworld of corporate
> babble" can be found at Worldcom's web site, in "a glossary of
> 'essential terms and phrases'", including wugga wugga.
>
> My search of Worldcom's site found references to a Jargon Watch section,
> but the links appeared to be redirects to a general site introduction
> page.
>
> http://www1.worldcom.com/us/resources/glossary/
>
> George Cole
> Shippensburg University
>
>