{"404121":{"#nid":"404121","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"Buzzwords Dominate Business Communication","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/faculty-and-staff\/faculty\/bio\/utz\u0022\u003ERichard Utz\u003C\/a\u003E, professor and chair of the \u003Cstrong\u003ESchool of Literature, Media and Communication\u003C\/strong\u003E, spoke with Georgia Tech Institute Communications on the use of metaphors in business communications.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEver since Robin Lakoff and Mark Johnson\u2019s landmark 2003 study, \u003Cem\u003EMetaphors We Live By\u003C\/em\u003E, there has been a broader recognition of metaphors \u2014 a figure of speech in which a word\/phrase is linked to an object or action to which it is not literally connected: thinking does not ever happen in boxes,\u201d said Richard Utz. \u201cThey try to help simplify and link more complex subject matter with commonly comprehensible objects, such as fruit and boxes, to enable easy communication.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUtz, who has a background in the stuy of rhetoric and linguistics, noted that phrases like buzzwords and metaphors are often tied to a specific region, class, gender, or race, and are therefore subject to the danger of misinterpretation. In addition to the generational nature of buzzwords, wherein older people may lack familiarity with emergent phrases and likewise, Utz notes other challenges in communication.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAnother danger of misinterpretation has to do with the cultural specificity of many buzzwords and their inbuilt metaphors,\u201d said Utz. \u201cThus, while a German will probably get the idea of \u2018thinking outside the box,\u2019 the German will prefer using a different buzz phrase to express the same issue \u2014 \u00fcber den Tellerrand schauen \u2014 which is translated as: \u2018to look beyond the edge of one\u2019s plate.\u2019\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDespite the potential for buzzwords to be misinterpreted, Utz does not see a decline in thir use in the near future.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere really is no way for human beings to do without metaphor or buzz phrases. They render us human beings capable of connecting what we know about our physical and social experience with subjects or issues we could otherwise not comprehend.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/2015\/05\/11\/buzzwords-dominate-business-communication\u0022\u003EContinue to full article...\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27889","created_gmt":"2015-05-13 11:23:37","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 02:27:31","author":"Beth Godfrey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/2015\/05\/11\/buzzwords-dominate-business-communication","dateline":{"date":"2015-05-11T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-05-11T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"404111":{"id":"404111","type":"image","title":"Richard Utz","body":null,"created":"1449252000","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:00:00","changed":"1539181964","gmt_changed":"2018-10-10 14:32:44","alt":"Portrait photo of School of Literature, Media, and Communication Chair Richard Utz","file":{"fid":"75989","name":"s200_richard_utz_oct_2014.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/s200_richard_utz_oct_2014.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/s200_richard_utz_oct_2014.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":29255,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/s200_richard_utz_oct_2014.jpg?itok=dSo1uzO5"}}},"media_ids":["404111"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1283","name":"School of Literature, Media, and Communication"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1072","name":"Business"},{"id":"124821","name":"buzzwords"},{"id":"3748","name":"communication"},{"id":"28061","name":"Linguistics"},{"id":"39781","name":"LMC"},{"id":"33461","name":"Utz"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}