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There's not much in American life these days that isn't subject to the eccentricities of fashion, even the workplace. No matter how closely akin or how far afield from the world of business your work may be, you've probably encountered one aspect of the current fashion originating in the business sector -- the corporate buzzword vocabulary, which has come to be applied across the board.

Certainly employed people should generally know what they're about and why, and some bland, nonspecific verbage is an unavoidable byproduct of that effort. Still, the number of work-related words being invented (or reinvented) is a bit out of hand, such as ones beginning with intra- or trans-, or ending in -able or centric. Meeting up with words such as "scalable" and "project-centric" regularly on the job has to make you wonder how much real work is being done.

It's strange the way some words randomly rocket to the top of the usage chart for a time, causing us to hear or see them so incessantly that their original panache and meaning is compromised. Words such as iconic, purview, paradigm and infrastructure have so suffered, as have two favorite targets of the comic strip "Dilbert": "synergy" and "leverage." "Leverage" has endured the peculiar phenomenon of noun-made-verb so that now it is less often something you have and more often something you do.

Another business-generated buzzword phenomenon is the layering effect. The word "core," for example, is coupled with endless partners -- competency, value, service, facility, ideology, to name a few. Which leads me to yet another trend, the "-i-n-g-ing" of words such as "partnering" and "mentoring." I think the "-ize" ending that was all the rage not so long ago has taken a back seat to this trend.

So, once your mission statement and core values are established, your efficacy is made excellent with a proactive approach, your action plan becomes transdisiplinary, team-based, savvy from a strat-ops perspective, and really growing the business, you might think you've covered all the bases buzzword-wise. But think again. There are people out there way ahead of you.

Even a cursory Web search for "buzzword" will yield an amazing variety of sites. One entity called Investopedia.com posts an extensive list of terms specific to Wall Street, my favorite entry being "click and mortar," which refers to a business with an Internet presence as well as a physical location.

Many sites feature buzzword games you can play online, which is a commentary on our times all on its own. One game has attained the status of urban legend: Buzzword Bingo, which allegedly is practiced among those who employ it as a means to stay awake during dreary presentations. I don't know if filling a row entitles one to stand and shout "Bingo!" in a board meeting, but that would be something to see.

You can even find buzzword generators online that create computer-generated, goofy blendings. I watched one site as it posted a new invention every 20 seconds, such as fabulous discrete mobility, optimal logistical reduction and extendable digital expansion. Users of this site have the option of entering buzzwords from which the generator will spit out new, customized phrases. So the next time you have to listen to a talk laden with such vapid terms, perhaps you shouldn't strain too hard to decipher them.

If we can create so many ways to talk about working, or even talk about talking about working, then let's hope we still have the gumption to actually put our shoulders to the wheel and get on with it.

Susan Stevens Huckle lives and writes in Blacksburg.