Going Forward

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hello.

Hi, who’s this?

This is Lisa Williams, and I’m in Zachary, Louisiana.

Hi, Lisa.

I was calling about the phrase going forward, and that’s a phrase that I’ve just heard kind of recently in the last year or so, and it seems to me that it’s kind of replacing the phrase in the future, and it kind of drives me crazy. And I just was wanting y’all’s opinion on that.

And Lisa, do you find other people are bothered by it as well?

You know, I might be the only nerd around here.

Oh!

The nerds are everywhere.

That’s right, we’re everywhere.

And so what’s your problem with going forward?

I guess I just don’t understand what was ever wrong within the future. You know what I mean? It makes me feel like people are just trying to sound smart or, you know, trying to just really look uppity or something when they say that.

Can you put it in a sentence in the way you hear it that annoys you?

I guess when they’re talking about a change like, so now we’re going to use this new form going forward instead of just in the future, I would prefer you use this form.

Right, because they’ve already indicated the future with we are going to, so why add going forward, right?

It’s redundant.

Exactly, exactly, yeah.

Yeah, and Lisa, I would say I’m on the same page as you. I agree with you. I find it really annoying, although I find myself picking it up just because so many people use it now. It’s really become an established part of business jargon, but it does drive me crazy, I have to say.

Crazy, really?

Yes, this explains it.

You should seek help.

I have seen going forward or even moving forward, and there’s dispute about which one is the more illegitimate term, but I’ve seen both of these on the most hated jargon list for more than a decade.

Yes.

They come up every single year. Anytime there’s an article in one of these terrible British newspapers where people are decrying the use of the English language, there are a thousand comments and going forward shows up right away.

And they usually blame the Americans.

Oh, no.

Well, I’m not the only nerd.

This makes me feel good.

You are not the only nerd. There are legitimate uses of going forward. You might expect me to automatically defend this usage and I’m going to fulfill your wishes.

Your expectations. We knew this would happen. Well, this is when it’s not clear what your verb is saying. Okay. Right? If you say, we are establishing a foundation to help the hungry going forward, the R has a problem because it’s showing something that’s currently happening, right? And the going forward indicates that it’s starting at this point right now and continuing into the future. If you say, we are establishing a foundation to help the hungry, it might not be perfectly clear exactly when it’s going to start.

Yeah, but I think that this term is way, way overused.

Oh, yeah.

It’s become a crutch.

I mean, nobody would ever say, will you marry me going forward? The problem with a term that’s overused and that annoys people, here’s the thing. At some point, it stops being annoying. They continue to overuse it, and they just get used to it, and they stop even noticing that it’s annoying anymore.

So what we are, we’re observing this term in a decades-long period of flux.

Are you saying that Lisa and I are behind the times?

No.

It would not be the first time I would use that. On the larger opinion of overusing business jargon, definitely.

Oh, come on, guys.

It’s just the overuse of language.

Please, please.

All of your PowerPoint slides could be a lot shorter.

Well, Lisa, if it makes you feel any better, I have a fantastic essay written by somebody who I think is British, Lucy Kellaway, who had a great piece in the Financial Times about this. We will link to it online.

But let me just give you some of what she says about going forward, and I think you’ll feel better. She says that the problem with it, one of the problems, is that it seems to gesture confidently toward the future, but is utterly vague on timing. We’re still, the phrase conveys the cheesy and misplaced idea that we are on a purposeful journey to a better place. In fact, the future comes whether you like it or not with no effort from us. And in terms of progress, history has confirmed that the future can be a lot worse than the present.

So at the end of the day, you should stop using going forward. There’s going to be a sea change with this word.

Oh, no.

It’s going to be impactful.

Oh, oh, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch.

Lisa, does this make you feel any better?

I feel like I have a kindred spirit, so it does.

You do, you have one. I’m with you on the overuse. I would say that if you find yourself using going forward and moving forward, look at it with a jaundiced eye and poise the pen to cut it, to strike it out, because there’s a really good chance that you don’t need it at all.

Would you agree?

Very good.

All right.

I do.

Thanks for calling.

Much appreciated.

Great.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, sure.

Bye-bye.

Thanks.

Bye-bye.

You know, when those end-of-the-year lists come out, filled with all the terms that people hate, they don’t change very much from year to year.

No, they don’t, do they?

But if you wanted to sound like a more intelligent speaker, here’s my advice to you. Find those most hated word lists and stop using them. I mean, nothing else needs to improve in your speech, but if you do that, you will sound great.

Well, going forward, you can call us, 877-929-9673.