EPO Staff Union: “Buzzwords Are Indicators of Empty Statements Which Make the Communication Artificial and Simply Show a Lack of Authenticity.”
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2020-06-17 04:16:42 UTC
- Modified: 2020-06-17 04:16:42 UTC
Summary: SUEPO Observer responds to the EPO Gazette (text below); we note the connection to the EPO's misuse of words and meaningless buzzwords to justify illegal patent grants, such as software patents (the misleading buzzwords are even integrated into examiners' guidelines, imposing superficiality on qualified scientists)
Foster, foster, foster
You may, like us, have heard colleagues complaining about the use of the word “foster” throughout management’s speeches and text, when this word seems to be rarely used elsewhere. The word “foster” is indeed fashionable in the Office: There is hardly a management text where there is not something “fostered” or someone “fostering”. A COO managed to use it twice in the same sentence in an interview for the Gazette.
Often used – and now somewhat hackneyed – the expression “foster our future” also contains a catchy alliteration.
But what does “to foster” means? According to Marriam Webster “to foster” is to promote the growth or development of: encourage. Therefore anything and everything can be fostered, obviously. The fashion of the word is also confirmed by its use in published books in GOOGLE statistics which shows a growing use of the word over time, and two peaks around the 1980 and 2000.
No wonder the word is so fashionable now at the Office: Any trendy managerial gibberish or “revolutionary” concept in the United States finds its way to the EPO about 20 years later, such as “management by objectives”. First, a fashion is developed and taught in the best US universities. About 10 years later the fashion arrives in Europe. Another 10 years later, it finally reaches the Office, at a time when it is abandoned everywhere else, e.g. because it was not working or even dangerous..
Buzzwords are indicators of empty statements which make the communication artificial and simply show a lack of authenticity. They are a symptom of a disconnection from the work floor.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- A Googlebombing Campaign Targeting "Gemini" Takes on E-mail, Too
- Google can do Googlebombing too (the term is even named after it)
- [Video] Microsoft Without a So-called 'Common Carrier' (Windows Monoculture)
- Windows Has Fallen
- [Video] To Combat Efforts to Cancel or Kill the Career (and Reputation) of the People Who Made GNU/Linux We Must Rally the Community
- nobody speaks better for projects and for licences than their own founders
- Rumour: Major Finance Layoffs at Microsoft Next Week
- If the rumour is true, we'll be hearing barely anything from the mainstream media next week
- Links 07/12/2023: More EPO Patents Squashed, More Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine "Glitches" Found
- Links for the day
- Still Not 'Canceled'
- Ted Ts'o, Jan Kara, Linus Torvalds last month
- Google is Googlebombing the Term "Gemini"
- Could Google not pick a name that's already "taken"?
- Links 06/12/2023: Bitcoin Rebound, China Downgraded by American Firm, Yahoo! Layoffs Again
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news
- Shooting the Messenger Using Bribes and Secrecy Bonds
- We seem to live in a world where accountability for the rich and well-connected barely exists anymore
- The Myth of an Aging (or Dying) GNU/Linux Leadership
- Self-fulfilling prophecies as a tactic?
- Links 06/12/2023: Many More December Layoffs
- Links for the day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, December 05, 2023
- IRC logs for Tuesday, December 05, 2023
- PipeWire 1.0: Linux audio comes of age
- Once upon a time, serious audio users like musicians and audio engineers had real trouble with Linux
- This is How 'Linux' Foundation Presents Linux to the World
- Right now it even picks Windows over Linux in some cases
- Links 05/12/2023: Microsoft's Chatbot as Health Hazard
- Links for the day
- There's Nothing "Funny" About Attacking Free Speech and Software Freedom
- persistent focus on the principal issues is very important
- Professor Eben Moglen Explained How Software Patent Threats Had Changed Around 2014 (Alice Case) and What Would Happen Till 2025
- clip aged reasonably well
- GNU/Linux Adoption in Africa, a Passageway Towards Freedom From Neo-Colonialism
- Digi(tal)-Colonialism and/or Techolonialism are a thing. Can Africa flee the trap?
- CNN Contributes to Demolition of the Open Web
- Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
- Eben Moglen on Encryption and Anonymity
- The alternate net we need, and how we can build it ourselves
- Yet More Microsofters Inside the Board of Mozilla (Which Has Just Outsourced Firefox Development to Microsoft's Proprietary Prison)
- Do you want a browser controlled (and spied on) by such a company?
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, December 04, 2023
- IRC logs for Monday, December 04, 2023
- GNU/Linux Now Exceeds 3.6% Market Share on Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
- things have changed for Windows in China
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news
- Links 05/12/2023: Debt Brake in Germany and Layoffs at Condé Nast (Reddit, Wired, Ars Technica and More)
- Links for the day