Office speak: 50 phrases you love to hate

You are not logged in. [Log In] Wordsmith Talk » Forums » General Topics » Miscellany » Office speak: 50 phrases you love to hate

Page 1 of 2

Topic Options

#177761 - 06/25/08 12:31 AM Office speak: 50 phrases you love to hate
Hydra Hydra addict Registered: 08/02/06 Posts: 631	Some of these are bad; really, really bad. BBC: 50 office-speak phrases you love to hate AgghhhhhHHHHHH!
Top

#177768 - 06/25/08 07:06 AM Re: Office speak: 50 phrases you love to hate [Re: Hydra]
Faldage Faldage Carpal Tunnel Registered: 12/01/00 Posts: 11596	I don't have the time to address this fully right now; I'll just say that I really like number 33: 'You can't have your cake and eat it, so you have to step up to the plate and face the music.' What it's doing on this list is beyond me. It's not like you're going to hear this from every boss in every rah-rah speech at every company. It's just a wonderfully mixed metaphor. Whenever I see one of these extended pet parades I just wonder what the peevologist could be doing constructively rather than playing Caligula vs. the Waves. I do have to agree that, however you spell it, incentivize is silly when we have the perfectly good incent with the same meaning.
Top

#177771 - 06/25/08 08:52 AM Re: Office speak: 50 phrases you love to hate [Re: Faldage]
Hydra Hydra addict Registered: 08/02/06 Posts: 631	Perhaps if you had to work under the kinds of people who use these sorts of expressions...
Top

#177772 - 06/25/08 09:24 AM Re: Office speak: 50 phrases you love to hate [Re: Faldage]
The Pook The Pook old hand Registered: 02/20/08 Posts: 707 Loc: Tasmania	Did you mean Canute? Or is Caligula v The Waves from Dumas' play or something? (which I've never read)
Top

#177777 - 06/25/08 12:25 PM Re: Office speak: 50 phrases you love to hate [Re: The Pook]
Myridon Myridon addict Registered: 10/24/05 Posts: 498 Loc: Dallas, TX	Originally Posted By: Faldage the perfectly good incent What's this sandalwood doing in my office? I'm incensed at your attempts to encense me with incense! I specifically requested Chanel No. 5 or L'Air du Temps - you know, real French benefits! And longer coffee breaks so I can have more perks! You receive incentives to incentivize you. What do you get when you're incented? Incents? Incention? Incent only gets 4 hits in onelook - three dictionaries say "to incentivize" and Word Detective Edited by Myridon (06/25/08 12:33 PM)
Top

#177779 - 06/25/08 02:15 PM Re: Office speak: 50 phrases you love to hate [Re: Hydra]
AnnaStrophic AnnaStrophic Carpal Tunnel Registered: 03/15/00 Posts: 6417 Loc: lower upstate New York	Here's a fun game for you to play at your next business meeting. http://isd.usc.edu/~karl/Bingo/
Top

#177788 - 06/25/08 06:26 PM Re: Office speak: 50 phrases you love to hate [Re: Myridon]
Faldage Faldage Carpal Tunnel Registered: 12/01/00 Posts: 11596	Originally Posted By: Myridon Originally Posted By: Faldage the perfectly good incent You receive incentives to incentivize you. What do you get when you're incented? Incents? Incention? Incent only gets 4 hits in onelook - three dictionaries say "to incentivize" and Word Detective You get directives to direct you. Incent gets 460,000 ghits; incentivize gets 242,000. So sucks to the Word Detective.
Top

#177794 - 06/25/08 10:45 PM Re: Office speak: 50 phrases you love to hate [Re: Faldage]
The Pook The Pook old hand Registered: 02/20/08 Posts: 707 Loc: Tasmania	[said with best Fraunsh accent] You are ze very seely peeple, y'know...
Top

#177797 - 06/25/08 10:57 PM Re: Office speak: 50 phrases you love to hate [Re: The Pook]
twosleepy twosleepy enthusiast Registered: 02/28/08 Posts: 327 Loc: western NY	Yahr muzzer wuz a hamstair and yahr fazzer smelt of eldairbarries... and go ayway, or I shall taunt yuu a secohnd tahm...
Top

#177801 - 06/26/08 12:23 PM Re: Office speak: 50 phrases you love to hate [Re: Faldage]
Myridon Myridon addict Registered: 10/24/05 Posts: 498 Loc: Dallas, TX	Originally Posted By: Faldage Incent gets 460,000 ghits; incentivize gets 242,000. Google does some odd things, but it's particularly odd when you try to compare searches on similar terms. As you say incent 456,000 incentivize 237,000 but incent -incentivize 851,000 The number of pages with "incent" - the number of pages that also have "incentivize" is much greater than the number of pages with "incent" WHAT? so (456,000 - X) = 851,000 X = -395,000 Likewise: incentivize -incent = 574,000 (237,000 - Y) = 574,000 Y = -337,000 Yet incentivize incent = 15,100 +incentivize +incent = 998 which is nowhere near 395,000 or 337,000. Edited by Myridon (06/26/08 12:25 PM)
Top

Page 1 of 2

Previous Topic View All Topics

Hop to:

Forum Stats

6630 Members
16 Forums
12173 Topics
178716 Posts

Max Online: 853 @ 10/23/07 11:39 AM


	Wordsmith Talk		About Us \| What's New \| Search \| Site Map \| Contact Us