Word horror of the day: actionize

Your first warning about development officers should be that they call themselves development officers. “Fund-raisers” would be far too — clear. This instinct obscure the basis of what they do corrupts their use of language, except among the very best of them. These are the people who use gift and leverage as verbs. After a while, you almost get used to it. But this latest cannot pass unremarked:

Actionize (verb): to put into action. “I need you to actionize the action items from our last agenda.”

Lord, and don’t let this one escape into the wild.