Travel Buzzwords That Must Be Banished

'Glamping', 'Minimoon' and 'Spatisserie' - 34 travel buzzwords that must be banished. Even in a world overwhelmed by cringe-inducing jargon, trendy acronyms and PR guff, where “moobs”, “YOLO”, and “hangry” are recognised by the Oxford English Dictionary, the travel industry stands out from the crowd as an unrivalled purveyor of extraordinary nonsense.

by Oliver Smith, The Daily Telegraph, October 19, 2017

editing by Earl of Cruise

Photo by Martin Barraud/OJO Images/Getty Images

The marketing managers in the travelindustry created over the years countless new stylish or contemporary words, which found their way into languages. But also they created wordings that create a fals image, e.g. by naming a simple stateroom a suite - a suite is consisting of more than two rooms divided by a wall and a door.
Or the wrong use of the term liner for a cruise ship. Or the wrong use of luxury, especially regarding a 3star or any other budget cruise vessel.

In Germany we have "handy´s" instead of mobiles, smartphones, cellulars, téléphone cellulaire or portable, or a mobile phone. It is quite rediculous to be frank. And this wrong word found its way into our DUDEN. These new words may be creative, but they are pure nonsense.
Finding this article and reading it, made me thinking of my own wordings ...

After all, it lumbered us with “glamping”, the “digital detox”, “voluntouring” and “minimoons” – all words that can only be spoken with a grimace.

It’s not just hip new companies spewing this tripe; the old establishment are at it too. Among the newest additions to the creaking cupboard of holiday buzzwords is "spatisserie", utilised by The Dorchester, which really ought to know better. This awful portmanteau describes a "uniquely named" and "luxurious yet informal" dining space attached to its spa, which serves "opulent" and "elegant" tea and cake. I’ve not yet had a cup of tea and a slice of Victoria sponge that warranted such adjectives, but I live in hope.

"Unique" is another word beloved in the travel industry - and almost always used erroneously. The good folk at THE DORCHESTER will be distraught to learn that "uniquely named" "spatisseries" can also be found at the CULLODEN Estate and Spa in Northern Ireland and Boringdon Hall in Dartmoor.

This week we were also introduced to the "Bleisure traveller", a dreadful mashing of the words "business" and "leisure" which describes people who do a bit of sightseeing during a work trip. It’s a new trend apparently. What utter twaddle.

Another relatively recent arrival was "flocation", used by a firm offering boating holidays (surely "bolidays"? To me it is evoking in first place a hint to Bollywood) to describe a domestic break (otherwise known as a "staycation" or "holistay") on water. Presumably some of these involve floating hotels (which we’ve been pained to hear called both "floatels" and "boatels").

Why must these perfectly adequate descriptions be shortened to something so tragic? Are we too bereft of time to speak in proper sentences? Even the single word “luxury” (which in itself has lost all meaning - even caravans have been given this adjective) has been shortened to the disgracefully lazy “luxe”.

We are living in times of TWITTER and short messages ... so we may degenerate to two-word-sentence-speakers ... some have reached that state allready - the nervous thumb in the Jungle Camp.

But we as homo sapiens developed the speach for the neccessary comunication, the interaction in social groups. And homo sapiens sapiens developed from the neccessaty literature.

Who’s to blame for this trend? To what address must the angry correspondence be directed? PR gibberish is nothing new, but the tendency to replace sensible English words with pigswill really went into overdrive after “staycation” first reared its ugly head. That was in 2009, when the global financial crisis and the weak pound made overseas holidays less affordable. The first recorded use of the word, however, has been attributed by Merriam-Webster researchers to a 1944 article in the Cincinnati Enquirer. "Take a Stay-cation instead of a Va-cation, this year," it suggested. A strongly-worded letter is now on its way to Ohio.

It would be another 65 years before “staycation” really entered the global lexicon, helped by tourist boards and newspapers across the planet, and hot on its heels came all manner of copycats. "Daycation" (a three-syllable description for a one-day holiday, ingeniously replacing the two-syllable "day trip"). Neighcation (riding horses). "Weighcation" (shedding timber). And more besides. Below is our list of banished travel buzzwords. If you find Telegraph Travel using them in anything but an ironic sense, feel free to direct that angry correspondence to us.

Staycation - domestic holiday
Holistay - ditto
Neighcation - horse-riding holiday
Daycation - a one-day holiday
Weighcation - dieting holiday
Gaycation - for LGBT holidaymakers
Mancation - think paintballing, tequila tasting and tickets to the F1
Brocation - same thing
Traincation - rail holidays
Spacation - spas in Britain
Dogcation - holidays with Fido
Momcation - er...
Floatel - a hotel on water
Flocation - a holiday on water
Bleisure - going to a museum after your big business conference
Bizcation - as above
Voluntourism - combining a holiday with charity work
Glamping - roughing it with little Hugo in a teepee
Babymoon - a holiday when you're ready to pop
Minimoon - the shorter of two honeymoons
Early-moon - a pre-wedding holiday
Buddymoon - why not take your mates along?
Weddingmoon - a wedding and honeymoon wrapped into one
Spatisserie - a restaurant in a spa
Wellness - just an awful word
Intuitive medical - this will be replacing "wellness" soon, we're told
Spafari - safaris combined with "wellness"
Doga - yoga with Fido
Cinetourism - visiting a destination associated with a film. A slum tour of Mumbai, for example, or "Hobbiton", in New Zealand
Jetiquette - how to behave on a flight
Flightseeing - viewing an attraction, the Grand Canyon, for example, from an aircraft
Digital detox - a holiday without your mobile, tablet or laptop
Twixmas - a short break between Christmas and New Year
Brokepacking - backpacking on a budget (wasn't that the point of backpacking?)

If you know of other "bright new wordings" please feel free to write them in the comment.

Comments

Ocean Liners in Movies or Films at Sea (updated Nov 2017)

For liners and the shipping companies movies and films had been a top marketing tool Movies or Films and liners at sea, had been intriguing me since I have read about in my youth in LUXUSLINER - BILDER EINER GROSSEN ZEIT by Lee Server ( THE GOLDEN AGE OF OCEAN LINERS ). But earlier, mot only since my first crossing, I was keen watching movies with liners in it, and disapointed, which was an understatement, when I realized the films have been made in a set ashore in some movie "factory". That was after my first crossing. by Earl of Cruise an essay in progress `Sabrina´, Humphrey Bogart in the office, while LIBERTÉ is sailing out of New York harbor - screenshot Ocean liners, especially those of the luxury category, had been the location of dramas, love stories, thrillers, suspense and catastrophies sinde film was born, or nearly. In this list, the most descriptions are taken from Wikipedia, as I guess no one can expect having seen all these films ... otherwise I w...

Design - Call me FRANCE again - will the mythical ship be back at sea

Le FRANCE, the famous and mythical French ocean liner, will he be back at sea again? President Charles De Gaulle claimed, during the christening ( by Yvonne de Gaulle ) ceremony May 11th, 1960, that FRANCE III is a true revival of glamorous NORMANDIE ... Those having sailed on NORMANDIE and had the luck of experiencing his grandeur and then top luxuries on board, named FRANCE "vulgar" ... as my aunt and others able to compare. Didier Spade, a French naval architect and businessman, connected to FRANCE via his father´s and grandfather´s engagement in the outfitting of the famous and last French Transatlantic liner, created a new interpretation of the famous and still loved FRANCE. by Earl of Cruise Didier Spade´s vision of the Nouveau FRANNCE - courtesy Mer et Marine When FRANCE was purchsed by visionairy Kloster, the once liner lost its character after the transforming into the then biggest cruise vessel. What was left was only a last glance of the 1950/60s design ...

ss NORMANDIE 1935 - 1942 IX

s s / te NORMANDIE starting from cold Owners: COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE BUILDERS: PENH Ö ET, St. Nazaire, France by Stephen Carey © , editing by Earl of Cruise This document is almost exclusively about the engineering aspects of NORMANDIE , mainly on how to start her up from cold. If you are looking for photos of the passenger spaces, there is a plethora of them on the web, in Facebook groups - Admirers of the ss Normandie , ss Normandie photographic file , The French Ocean Liners / Les Paquebots Fran ç ais , ss Normandie , GREAT LINERS OF THE PAST & PRESENT , and others, Pinterest and in articles about NORMANDIE here in the blog, please see at the end of the article. Using "ss" for NORMANDIE is quite incorrect, as NORMANDIE was a Turbo Electric vessel and not a steamship, therefore NORMANDIE should be adressed as "te". by Earl of Cruise te / ss NORMANDIE berthed in Le Havre, Gare Maritime May 29th, 1935 - colouring courtesy ...

HISTORY - The CUNARD - WHITE STAR Liner rms QUEEN ELIZABETH (1938-1972)

Over years, in my early youth, the QUEEN ELIZABETH was shaping my mind for the perfect ocean liner, despite having made my first experiences with a liner onboard the HANSEATIC (1), ex EMPRESS OF SCOTLAND, ex EMPRESS OF JAPAN. When leaning at the rail of HANSEATIC entering the port, my eyes where every where and I wished to by a camera, I took all in. And when seeing the QUEEN ELIZABETH with my own eyes, the nice behaving young boy turned into a tomboy, that my grandmére was no longer able to tame ... I did draw quite a lot of looks, back then. I found, while on research, this article and thought it interesting publishing in my blog: written and published by John Sheperd at liverpoolships.org editing and comments by Earl of Cruise I ( John Shepard ) joined the CUNARD LINE in March 1962 as an Assistant Purser and sailed the QUEEN ELIZABETH throughout that year, before transferring to the Liverpool-based CARINTHIA in November, where I remained as Crew Purser for the next five...

HISTORY - Traveling with airliner LZ 129 HINDENBURG was the most luxurious airtravel

The real airliner LZ 129 HINDENBURG enabled the most luxurious airtravel for decades. Imagine, gliding through the air while the landscape or the sea below can be seen ... LZ 129 HINDENBURG marks the climax of airship construction. On May 6, 1937, the story of civilian airship ended in a tragedy. In Lakehurst, New Jersey, the largest flying object and has been with the similar sized LZ 130 GRAF ZEPPELIN II the most luxurious of all time. How this came about can be reconstructed logically, a series of fatal physics concatenations . The airship LZ 129 HINDENBURG marks the climax of airship construction. It was in its time the fastest and most exclusive traveling object between Europe and America. The challenges of the construction of the giant of the heaven were immense. by Earl of Cruise LZ 129 HINDENBURG, 1936, in Lakehurst - digital copy of a coloured cover photo, originally by Bill Schneider, published in Dan Grossman´s book ` ZEPPELIN HINDENBURG: AN ILLUSTRATED HI...

Thank You 500,000 readers

HISTORY - ts / ss BREMEN and ts / ss EUROPA

Germany’s two luxury liners, BREMEN and EUROPA , have not only played an important part in their country’s mercantile revival, but have added also an immortal chapter to the history of transatlantic travel. Copy from Shipping Wonders of the World From part 6 , published 17 March 1936 editing by Earl of Cruise ss / ts BREMEN in her early years - Source: Shipping Wonders of the World/Bundespresse Archiv The PRIDE OF A NATION - the NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD quadruple-screw turbine express liner BREMEN . The keel of this ship was laid in June 1927. Her launch took place in August, 1928. In less than a year later, the Bremen made her first voyage to America, when she crossed the Atlantic from Cherbourg to New York in four days seventeen hours forty-two minutes, thus setting up a new record and gaining the coveted “Blue Riband”. During the passage the Bremen attained an average speed of 27.83 knots. ss / ts BREMEN in her early years - Source: W ikipedia For the pop...

Germany and HAPAG - A Journey through History

HAMBURG-AMERIKANISCHEPACKETFAHRT ACTIEN GESELLSCHAFT - HAPAG or HAMBURG AMERICA LINE is reflecting, as Germany, the LLOYD of Bremen, two times of rsing and two times of devasting downfall and a third rise. BORUSSIA , 1856, First Day Cover 1956 of Deutsche Bundespost - own collection Once Germany´s biggest shipping line HAPAG / HAMBURG-AMERIKANISCHE PACKETFAHRT ACTIEN GESELLSCHAFT-LLOYD, merged with it former old Hanseatic rival NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD in 1970, to now HAPAG-LLOYD, had its peaks and downs, but rose each time on its own to new hights, without any state subsidies. As German mail subsidiaries did never cover the costs for purchasing or mainting the vessels ordered for the specific German mail lines. by Earl of Cruise In this article I used most German Wikipedia links, as they proved to be mostly of better research quality, and surprisinf to me, some English lines and liners have only German written articles, for the others, English Wiki links are to ...

HISTORY - RHEINGOLD the German luxury day express train

Between May 1928 and August 1939 the luxury day express train RHEINGOLD operated between Hoek van Holland and Basel as a FFD Pullman train of DEUTSCHE REICHSBAHN GESELLSCHAFT (DRG) and MITROPA. The name was mystic and elitarian. by Earl of Cruise RHEINGOLD, the name of the most luxurious train ever of Germany - detail, own photo On May 15th, 1928 the luxury express train RHEINGOLD started for the first time, connecting Hoek von Holland, Netherlands, and Amsterdamn with Basel, Suisse. Name giving was the legendary treasure of the Nibelungen. This special service for most international travelers was an immidiate success. Advertisment for the RHEINGOLD created by Frank Newbould - collection Earl of Cruise For the most travelers in the RHEINGOLD meant the voyage in the luxury train more than being transported in high comfort. From their soft armchairs they could watch the pitoresque Rhine landscape, with wine villages, vine-growing slopes, forteresses and castles, and th...

HISTORY - HAMBURG-SÜD and the CAP express liner

The CAP express liners of HAMBURG-SÜD, CAP FINISTERRE, CAP TRAFALGAR, CAP POLONIO and CAP ARCONA, are known worldwide for their luxury, renowned service on board and grandeur. Their successors of the 60s, the CAP SAN vessels, have not been that elegant, but truly first class and were known as the "White Swans" of the Atlantic. by Earl of Cruise HAMBURG-SÜD´s SANTA TERESA in Santos - courtesy HAMBURG-SÜD Since its formation in 1871, HAMBURG-SÜDAMERIKANISCHE DAMPFSCHIFFFAHRTS-GESELLSCHAFT ( HSDG or HAMBURG-SÜD ) has evolved from a conventional freight and passenger shipping company into a global operating transport logistics organisation. Today, it ranks among the world's ten largest container shipping lines and is one of the leading providers in the North-South trades. T ill recently it was a member of the successful Oetker Group, one of the largest and best-known family enterprises in Germany. The heirs and owners sold HAMBURG-SÜD to the Danish MAERSK Group ...

Search This Blog

Thank You 500,000 readers