GM's 69 dirty words

First, a little funny that it's 69 words and not 68 or 70. Also, no, I'm not making fun of GM. I'm guessing many big companies have such protocol. (You should see our list of words to avoid.)

Anyway, the words that "should be avoided" in "documents used for reports and presentations" at General Motors:

always, annihilate, apocalyptic, asphyxiating, bad, Band-Aid, big time, brakes like an “X” car, cataclysmic, catastrophic, Challenger, chaotic, Cobain, condemns, Corvair-like, crippling, critical, dangerous, deathtrap, debilitating, decapitating, defect, defective, detonate, disemboweling, enfeebling, evil, eviscerated, explode, failed, flawed, genocide, ghastly, grenadelike, grisly, gruesome, Hindenburg, Hobbling, Horrific, impaling, inferno, Kevorkianesque, lacerating, life-threatening, maiming, malicious, mangling, maniacal, mutilating, never, potentially-disfiguring, powder keg, problem, rolling sarcophagus (tomb or coffin), safety, safety related, serious, spontaneous combustion, startling, suffocating, suicidal, terrifying, Titanic, unstable, widow-maker, words or phrases with a biblical connotation, you’re toast

Here's the list.

And interesting that Cobain made the list. What if you're a Nirvana fan? Or like thrift store sweaters?

I personally like Hindenburg, because you know that is such a form of reliability i don't see how it is on a banned list.

It seems like common sense that "Kevorkianesque" shouldn't be used to sell cars.

Brakes like an "X" car

Grenadelike

Thas good, Lols

Aside from Titanic, a lot of those words could be used in the same sentence with Fiero.

A lot of those make sense - but "bad", "serious", "critical", "safety" and "defect"? Seems like some of those maybe have their place in internal documents. Unless these words are only barred for external communications.

Some of them probably have histories like Skippy's list.

I don't understand Corvair-like.

WTF??

I want to see the ad that uses all of them.

I'm digging "rolling sarcophagus."

Disemboweling sounds fun. Steal this link? Don't mind if I do...

Does GRM have a dirty word list?

Keith Tanner wrote: A lot of those make sense - but "bad", "serious", "critical", "safety" and "defect"? Seems like some of those maybe have their place in internal documents. Unless these words are only barred for external communications. Some of them probably have histories like Skippy's list.

There is no such thing as an internal document when the sue happy lawyers get involved.

Then I feel much better knowing that GM cannot actually discuss safety or anything critical internally.

As for disemboweling, I'm a little less disappointed.

they left out 'bubba the love sponge'

fujioko wrote: Aside from Titanic, a lot of those words could be used in the same sentence with Fiero.

Don't tell Series8217....

"Apocalyptic" and "Maniacal" are some of my favorite words. And there are plenty of great uses for "Startling" and "Serious."

David S. Wallens wrote: (You should see our list of words to avoid.)

After that, you've got to tell us.

Anyway, the words that "should be avoided" in "documents used for reports and presentations" at General Motors: bad... catastrophic... critical, dangerous... defect, defective, detonate... failed, flawed... problem... safety, safety related, serious... unstable.

How on earth was the engineering department supposed to hold QC discussions?

I'm picturing them coming up with a bunch of bizarre euphemisms, quite possibly using unpopular management characters' names in place of some of these words. That list might be even more entertaining to read.

Most of them are negative descriptors that cannot be modified. They either are or they are not. So calling a car a death trap is an accusation that hasn't been proven in court and lawyers would be all over that. A car can't be almost a death trap. It either is or it is not.

I bet GM's acceptable list includes Berkley and E36M3......

Corvair-like is definitely my favorite.

"Don't say anything is anything like a car we made for nearly a decade."

They should go a step farther though. Let's make sure nothing is ever like (or at least described as) "Aztek-like" or "Cimmaron-like" as well.

David S. Wallens wrote: always, annihilate, apocalyptic, asphyxiating, bad, Band-Aid, big time, brakes like an “X” car, cataclysmic, catastrophic, Challenger, chaotic, Cobain, condemns, Corvair-like, crippling, critical, dangerous, deathtrap, debilitating, decapitating, defect, defective, detonate, disemboweling, enfeebling, evil, eviscerated, explode, failed, flawed, genocide, ghastly, grenadelike, grisly, gruesome, Hindenburg, Hobbling, Horrific, impaling, inferno, Kevorkianesque, lacerating, life-threatening, maiming, malicious, mangling, maniacal, mutilating, never, potentially-disfiguring, powder keg, problem, rolling sarcophagus (tomb or coffin), safety, safety related, serious, spontaneous combustion, startling, suffocating, suicidal, terrifying, Titanic, unstable, widow-maker, words or phrases with a biblical connotation, you’re toast

Looks like GM will not be partnering in any form with GRM.

Tim Baxter wrote: Corvair-like is definitely my favorite. "Don't say anything is anything like a car we made for nearly a decade." They should go a step farther though. Let's make sure nothing is ever like (or at least described as) "Aztek-like" or "Cimmaron-like" as well.

That is one of the problems with banning specific words: They're something one could circumvent with a thesaurus - or worse, the sort of creative analogies the media might love to quote. Banning words like "band-aid" is in and of itself a band-aid.

Were those words banned after someone gave a presentation or were they done preemptively? I can picture one guy being a pain in the ass seeing how many phrases he can get added to the list.,

"If the customer has too many key chains they could kill the car turning it into an unsteerable rolling sarcophagus and the following air bag malfunction sends a very Cobain like corpse to the family unless of course the car Hindenburgs, as they are wont to do."

Many businesses have similar training to prevent an overzealous employee from loading them with liability.

A pointed word like "kevorkianesque", will only make the list because someone in the business has used it. LOL.

So, I guess it's OK to say "Kevorkian".

"Abortion".

"Pinto-like".

"Failure". "Feeble". "Firebomb". "Oldsmobile Diesel". "Cadillac V8-6-4". "Ignition Switch".

The opportunities are virtually endless!

"ht4100" lol