Nomenclature

This column was published August 21, 2025 in the Manhattan Mercury.

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When you unpack it, a determining factor in the legitimacy of my work, whether it’s writing a book, this column, or talking on the radio, starts and stops with word selection. The unspoken, but tacitly implied premise is that I, the word purveyor, have arranged them in such a fashion that they make sense, hit home, or otherwise cause you, the word consumer, some sort of mental or emotional reaction.

I’m not talking about psyche-influencing manifestos leading to life-altering paradigm shifts, but if the consumption of the words I put forth leads to even a momentary reflection, new insight or second thought, I will declare victory and depart the field.  

In recent weeks, I have found myself pondering many of the specific words that came out of my mouth, keyboard or Blackberry which evolved into a smart phone when I plied my trade in full-time day jobs, especially that last career chunk, involving stakeholder wooing and the advocacy that followed.

Words, terms of art, catchphrases, even hackneyed clichés became tools of the trade in the care and feeding of agenda management.

Some of these words describe situations, some relate to specific individuals, most of them were used in the design and implementation of strategies, followed by the inevitable tactics and calibrations. This is the nomenclature of that professional life. These are the words I found myself using over the course of a career aimed at moving hearts and minds. Some of them have already appeared in the first five paragraphs of this column, offering a sense of how deeply they are baked in:  

Fall on a sword (see also: take a bullet).

Use as a fig leaf.

No fingerprints.

Bump it up your chain.

Circle back.

Make it someone else’s idea.

Grenade (or flame) thrower.

Data driven.

Take some temperatures.

Smartest guy/girl in the room.

Idealogues can’t govern.

Move the needle.

Baked in.

Hold their hand.

Didn’t dive under the table fast enough.

Voluntold.

Candlepower.

Agenda-driven.

Salute smartly and march forward.

Steering a battleship.

Manage expectations.

Suit ‘em up and attack the hill.

Low idiot tolerance.

Just walk away, Renée.

Paradigm shift.

Push the envelope.

Deep dive (see also: drill down).

Fluid document/process

Gold-plated pain in the (select the appropriate body part)

Get a feel/sense/direction/vibe.

Lead with the rah-rah.

Co-opt the naysayers.

Recognize their limitations.

Flow chart savvy (a derivative of: chain of command)

Endgame/outcome

Scripted (see also: pre-ordained)

Drink the Kool-Aid.

Unpack it.

Declare victory and depart the field.

Win-win.

Low-hanging fruit.

Expand the bandwidth.

Land the plane.

Even though in semi-retirement, I have mercifully graduated or moved beyond days and nights filled with meetings in which these words flew fast, furious and freely, many have stuck with me.

As I land this plane, I will declare victory and depart the field, content with the knowledge that your expectations have been managed so that you have at least a vibe that the envelope has been pushed sufficiently to produce a bandwidth expansion outcome.  

Mike Matson’s column appears every other weekend in The Mercury, and he hosts ‘Within Reason,’ weekdays at 9 a.m. on NewsRadio KMAN. Follow his writings at mikematson.com