You know about The Devil’s Dictionary, by Ambrose Bierce?
I’m going to start a regular feature on Writing Boots called Lucifer’s LinkedIn Lexicon.
In that loquacious logroller’s lair, a marketing executive says she is “content obsessed.”
What can that possibly mean?
Our communication forebears wouldn’t even know how to read that, and would have asked honestly: “Well, which is it, young lady: Are you content, or obsessed?”
But even in this vapid age, no one could possibly be “obsessed” by “content”: Writers and video producers who actually create “content” for marketers generally don’t call it that, because it’s bad for their own morale—makes them feel they’re tossing Nerf bricks into a Grand Canyon, by Mattel. They call it “the blog post,” or “the speech,” or “the video.”
Only marketers and other creeps call it “content.”
And of course marketers generally do hire out their “content creation,” because they can’t create compelling communications themselves.
Why? They talk too funny.
So:
CONTENT OBSESSED (adj): A marketing executive who is hoping to use preposterous, perhaps drug-fueled enthusiasm to compensate for a total lack of ability. (See prev: “I’m a people person!”, 1970s; “I’m a self-starter!” 1980s; “I’m tech savvy!” 1990s, also “I’m tech savvy!” 2000s; and “I’m a storyteller!” 2010s.)
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