Thursday, August 17, 2023

Macmillan cites Igor’s CEO as coining a buzzword.

“VANILLACIDE: when an original idea or plan is repeatedly changed until it becomes less interesting and unique than it was first intended to be. Vanillacide is most often used in business contexts, where it refers to the scenario of new and creative proposals undergoing a series of changes in order to make them generally acceptable to people, but in the process becoming so ‘watered down’ that they lose their original individuality and appeal.

The term vanillacide was coined  by Steve Manning, Chief Executive Officer at Igor, a branding agency in the US. The expression is a blend of the adjective vanilla in its modern sense of describing something as ordinary and lacking in any special or extra features, and the suffix -cide, which denotes an act of killing.
Unlike vanilla, which can simply be used to show that something is of a standard variety, vanillacide always has disapproving overtones, suggesting that something has become unnecessarily conformist and ‘bog standard’.”

Read the full  dictionary entry.

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