• elevator pitch – n., an extremely short but compelling explanation.

Unfortunately, this lovely little piece of corporate jargon is misused 99.74% of the time.

Example of correct usage: You’re in an elevator with a potential customer. If you can make a compelling case for your product before the elevator reaches the 15th floor, you win the deal. You need to use the most compelling and short sales pitch possible. That’s the “elevator pitch.”

Typical usage: The term “elevator pitch” is applied in the corporate world to long, rambling descriptions of a product, weighed down with lots of extra adjectives and marketing filler-words. The only hope of finishing the pitch in a single elevator ride is to hit the emergency stop, or maybe (in the distant future), try to catch someone in a so-called “space elevator.”