[IMAGE CREDIT: iStock / Erchog]
(The Publisher’s Favorite Articles from Past Issues, Mixed in with New Stuff.)
Legend has it that some years ago, the fertile mind of a 63-year-old U.S. Public Health Service worker named Philip Broughton hatched the so-called “Systematic Buzz Phrase Projector” — a sure-fire way to effortlessly produce just the right linguistic jargon to bluff your way through any governmental project!
Coming to the public’s attention in print as far back as Newsweek magazine, in May of 1968, Broughton’s system employs a carefully chosen 30-buzzword lexicon that makes quick work out of what might otherwise constitute written drudgery. Here’s how it works:
Using any three-digit number of your choice — if dice are available at your workplace, a die may be cast three times — select the corresponding buzz-word from each column. For example, the number “731” produces the phrase, “synchronized reciprocal flexibility.” Such a phrase can easily be dropped into a written report or even used to add some verbal ‘razzle-dazzle’ to an oral report. (Beware, however, of tongue-twisting word combinations.)
Thanks to the Systematic Buzz Phrase Projector, fruits of your 3-digit labor will include a ring of decisiveness, knowledgeableness, and authority. Specialized word columns are possible (and encouraged!), such as a buzz-word lexicon for the legal profession: Consider possibilities such as, “concomitant inter-pled interrogatories.”
“No one will have the remotest idea what you’re talking about,” Broughton has been quoted as saying about his invention, “but the important thing is they’re not about to admit it.”
James Hope is a Florida Bar Board Certified Criminal Trial Lawyer who has been practicing criminal law in Tavares, Florida, since 1987. He has also been the Publisher and Executive Editor of Lake Legal News since 2009. He may be contacted at LakeLegalNews@gmail.com, or through his website at www.AttorneyJamesHope.com. [PHOTO CREDIT: Bonnie Whicher]
