Most new words start out precisely describing specific concepts. But then (in business at least), repetition on the part of people who don’t know any better and are too busy or lazy to look it up eventually drains out all meaning beyond “good.” Or “bad.”

Take, for example, “disruptive technology,” which doesn’t mean “a technology that disrupts a marketplace.”

Clayton Christensen coined the term in his brilliant The Innovator’s Dilemma (1997), so basic good manners say he gets to define it. It’s supposed to describe technologies that, when first introduced, provide little or no value for current uses.

Christensen’s original case study looked at disk drives, starting with 8″ drive technology, which when introduced was far too limited to support the mainframe computers that constituted the main market for storage devices.

It was, however, perfect for the emerging minicomputer marketplace. Which did not make it disruptive.