The term “design by committee” is one I am familiar with as a web developer. It carries zero positive connotation. The story goes that, when creating a product (be it a website, a portable mp3 player or a microwave), the more fingers there are stirring the pot, the worse the product is going to be as a result. The point is that it’s best to have a small handful of visionaries dictating the Way It Is and anyone else involved simply following their direction.

Wikipedia says that “the defining characteristics of ‘design by committee’ are needless complexity, internal inconsistency, logical flaws, banality, and the lack of a unifying vision.”

You get the picture.

My question is this: If design by committee carries such a negative inference, why do we continue to praise and support the idea of democracy in government? People constantly complain that our government is overly complicated, bogged down and rife with bureaucracy. Perhaps that’s because we all feel the need to “do our part” in contributing to the laws that get put into place.

I’m not saying I have a better suggestion over democracy. Every form of government has its benefits and drawbacks. America’s government is highly complex, full of hoops, chutes, ladders and loopholes. And we all helped make it that way.

Actually, I take that back. My preferred form of government is a benevolent dictatorship. But that doesn’t work either, because, as they say, those that should be in power are exactly the ones that refuse to be.

A curmudgeon might reasonably point out, “Why the blue hell do I need to talk about ‘mind grapes’ when the word ‘mind’ is working just fine?” Well, as Cosmo Kramer once asked, “Why go to a fine restaurant when you can just stick something in the microwave? Why go to the park and fly a kite when you can just pop a pill?” Language isn’t always about brevity. People like to be clever, and they like to reference clever shows like 30 Rock. Whether that makes you blurgh or liz is up to you.

(via The Language of 30 Rock)

I love this piece about how 30 Rock invents words that get thrown into our cultural lexicon. I personally love using the term “thoughtsicles” as an alternative to “mind grapes.” Tracy came up with that one, too.

Language is a funny thing. We say all sorts of seemingly useless crap that we get from TV, movies, music, YouTube and Urban Dictionary. A physical printed dictionary could never keep up; it’s a wonder people even care what new words get added to Webster’s list every year.

Side note: I also enjoyed how the article used Twitter as a means to prove their point of real-world usage. Mark that down as another possible purpose for tweeting, or at least the value for researchers found in otherwise inane collections of 140-ish characters.