Language Barrier

I get dozens of press releases a day so it isn't surprising that I've developed a number of pet peeves. Number one on my list? Platform- (or technology-) agnostic. Hello, when I was growing up, this word has one very specific meaning, which applied to the existence of God. Somehow I doubt that, despite the potential for delusions of grandeur, even tech firms actually put themselves quite in that stratum (thuogh with the amount of mission critical enterprise solutions out there, I could be wrong). Anyhow, I ran across an article called High-Tech Marketing May Confuse Customers that not only had me laughing, it made a lot of sense. The way we abuse the language, it not only stops making sense, but stops accomplishing what we want it too. Of course I found myself completely busted right along with marketing writers. The culprit? Viral marketing. Yep, I not only dig the concept but have also been known to use and abuse the term.