12 Commonly Used Words That Were Once Rejected as Nonsense Jargon

Just as death and taxes are the only certainties in life, language too is bound to evolve, and people will inevitably resist these changes. One of the most irritating shifts for many is the rise of professional jargon, which often replaces simpler, clearer terms we already have. Ever heard of 'collaborative incentivizing'? Not likely. But perhaps one day your great-grandchildren will be. Here are 12 words that were once dismissed as meaningless buzzwords, but have since become so commonplace that nobody bats an eye.

1. Contact

Although many still grumble about the use of 'impact' as a verb, the word 'contact' has successfully integrated into the verb world. However, its journey wasn't smooth. In 1937, it ranked fourth on a widely circulated list of the 10 most 'overused' words, with the advertising industry singled out as the primary culprit. In 1931, a Western Union official proposed a company-wide ban on the term. He famously argued that the verb should never 'soil any good Western Union paper,' even suggesting that the 'loathsome' individual who first coined this 'hideous vulgarism' should have been 'destroyed in early childhood.' He further insisted that as long as we can meet, connect, be introduced to, or talk to others, there should be no excuse for using the word 'contact.'

2. Interview

While the term 'interview' might have been a suitable replacement for 'contact' back in 1931, it wasn't always embraced, especially when it referred to the practice of journalists asking questions. A 1882 book on rhetoric recounts how the verb was 'initially accepted as a joke, then sharply criticized, and ultimately, by some strange twist of fate, grudgingly accepted.' In 1890, a New York Times article criticized 'the newspaper fiends who have forced us to accept the verb 'to interview' into our language.'

3. Optimism/Pessimism

These terms gained popularity in the 1880s, and by 1892, a columnist from a magazine grumbled about 'the way the word 'Pessimism' is being thrown around... it’s everywhere now, and it’s used to label almost every complaint about the status quo.' In 1904, another frustrated magazine writer wondered, 'Who will be the first to donate money to a fund that provides definitions for the words 'optimism' and 'pessimism' for writers who mistakenly use them as synonyms for 'cheerfulness' and 'despondency'?'

4. Mortician

This term first appeared in the February 1895 edition of *Embalmers Monthly*, where it was suggested as an alternative to 'undertaker' or 'funeral director.' However, those outside the profession didn’t take to it, with complaints that it 'grates the ear.' For years afterward, it was dismissed as 'ugly,' 'affected,' 'an uncouth stranger,' and an 'atrocity' of a euphemism. Literary critic Harry Levin even referred to it as a 'pseudo-Latinism of dubious currency.'

5. Purist

In 1883, journalist Godfrey Turner launched a fiery attack against the term 'purist,' writing, 'What a word! We have here, without a doubt, the only attempt to create a noun, through this clumsy inflection, directly from an adjective.' He didn’t stop there, adding in another piece, 'Whoever first committed this egregious noun-substantive to print must, one hopes, have repented a deed that forever offends verbal purity... among all the misguided creations of modern language, it stands alone in its unmatched deformity.'

6. Reliable

A 1860 review of a new English dictionary lamented that the author 'includes the unnecessary word 'reliable,' which has nearly replaced the older, more idiomatic term 'trustworthy.'' However, the reviewer expressed approval that the dictionary explained why 'this anomalous and deformed word' doesn't quite make sense: to capture the intended meaning, it should be 'reliuponable,' a suggestion that would surely be 'ludicrous.'

7. Antibody

In his 1916 writing guide, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch labeled this term 'a barbarism, and a mongrel at that.' He expressed concern that 'when it became the norm for each nation to use its own language in scientific writings, it was certainly not anticipated that scientists would soon be making discoveries at such a rapid pace that their linguistic skill would fall behind,' and that 'they would flood our dictionaries with monstrously invented words.' He concluded that 'for the sake of our intellectual dignity, while we still retain any sense of cultural lineage, *antibody* is not a term to use when combating a bacillus.'

8. Electrocution

In 1899, a newspaper cautioned its readers that the term 'electrocution,' though 'widely used to describe the process of executing someone via electricity, is a flawed and improper one,' and recommended the term 'execution by electricity' instead. The *Sacramento Daily Record-Union* added, 'The English language has already enough to endure in terms of absurdities, slang, and vulgarities, without this new affliction.' However, the sharpest critique of *electrocution* came from Ambrose Bierce's 1909 language guide, *Write It Right*, where he condemned the word as 'nothing short of disgusting, and the act it describes is far too dignified for the word’s inventor.'

9. Proposition

For years, style guides despised the use of *proposition* in place of *proposal*. In 1914, English professor Richard Burnton expressed his frustration with the term, stating, 'Take the omnipresent and dreadful word *proposition*. Initially used in business and perhaps needed there, it has become so presumptuous that now you hear it everywhere, wherever two or three are gathered. 'That's a different proposition' has become unbearably familiar to the tired ear, and can now be used to describe anything from comparing the beauty of women to discussing a new twist in the Balkan imbroglio.'

10. Demote

When 'demote' began to be used as the opposite of 'promote' in the 1890s, people would often put quotation marks around it, signaling their uncertainty about whether it was acceptable. Some suggested that *retromote* would be a more etymologically accurate term, but one letter to the editor dismissed both as 'barbarisms,' instead recommending the term 'drop,' which was the one used at Harvard for lowering someone’s class. Although *demote* became widely accepted, it appeared on the *New York Herald*’s 'Don't List' of editorial standards until 1918, with the note, 'there is no word *demote*.'

11. Balance

The word *balance*, when used to mean 'what remains of something,' was once considered an annoying misuse of bookkeeping terminology. In 1913, *The American Business Encyclopedia and Legal Adviser* warned against using it in casual conversation outside of business contexts, where it was regarded as 'vulgar.' Literary critic Richard Grant White expressed his displeasure, lamenting, 'People even talk about the balance of a day, or how they spend the balance of their time, or even the balance of their lives,' and he found this 'hideous English... it cannot be condemned too often or too harshly.'

12. Donate

White did not hold back on *donate* either: 'I need hardly say that this word is utterly detestable—one that no lover of plain, honest English can endure without offense. It was crafted by some presumptuous and uninformed individual from *donation*... when we already have words like *give*, *present*, *grant*, *confer*, *endow*, *bequeath*, *devise*—each capable of expressing the act of transferring ownership in all its forms.'