I learned at school in England in the 50s that "ducks in a row" originated in British shipyards, as the term "duck" referred to the weights used to hold down wooden ship frames. They had to be in a row, or the keel and framing struts would be out of line.
This is likely not true. There are quite a number of professed origins for this phrase, but there's no real evidence for any of them, and it's pretty clear that nobody really knows where it actually came from. To be honest, I never really understood why people seem to feel compelled to come up with all these fancy explanations when the most obvious, and I think most likely, one is simply that it refers to the very common tendency in nature of young ducklings to all walk in a line behind their mother when going from one place to another. One of the earliest references in print to something like this phrase I have ever heard anyone come up with is actually from Goodrich's Fifth School Reader, written by Samuel Griswold Goodrich (an American author) in 1857: “Yes,” said the ducklings, waddling on. “That's better,” said their mother; “But well-bred ducks walk in a row, straight, one behind the other.” “Yes,” said the little ducks again, all waddling in a row. “Now to the pond,” said old Dame Duck - splash, splash, and in they go.
We used to play something called "office bingo" where the employees would keep score of how often the managers use buzz words like synergy or teamwork and such.
We actually had ducks in the workplace. Well, out in the landscaping just on the other side of the window. Frederick and Mabel and eventually the six eggs in their nest. The company was being dismantled, and the remaining staff rallied around that family. We fed them, and took care that the groundskeepers didn't disturb them. People spent their breaks and lunches watching them through the window. It was good to think of something besides our own fates. Eventually the ducklings hatched, and spent a few days bobbing around in the office fountain. Then it was time to head for the wild. Someone saw them starting to move, and made an announcement. The whole company left the office and lined up on the street to make sure they could cross safely, maybe 60-70 of us. The family went down the street, down the embankment and into the canal. And yes, they were all in a row. We laughed, and waved goodbye, and cried, and wished them well. By the next nesting season, our company had also been sent down the canal. It's been 20 years, and I hope that Frederick and Mabel's little descendants are still floating around somewhere.
When we moved into a new test/lab building a few years ago the enpty stretch of land next to us became home to some sheep and a set of beehives - the sheep became adept at hiding, and it was a lunchtime challenge to try spotting them all.
I worked for a very large aerospace company in California. At one point we had a family of burrowing owls dig their burrow in the ground right at the pedestrian entry and exit gate to the plant from the large parking lot where about 50,000 of us parked our cars. The parents and the owlets used to sit at the edge of their burrow and blinkingly watch us walk back and forth about 10 yards away from them at every shift change. Occasionally the parents would come back from a local hunting excursion and the little family would dine while watching us. According to "environmental" groups these birds are supposed to be going extinct due to human contact. Seems rather unlikely. Eventually the wise and wonderful leaders who ruled our magic kingdom decided to drive out the birds and pave the nest over. Now, due to their wonderful leadership, the entire historic area where the world class plant used to build aerospace is itself flattened down, destroyed and either paved over or abandoned to weeds. The former employees, like the owls, are scattered to the four winds.
Yep. Golf phrase, for when you shank one off the fairway, and have a go at searching for your lost ball, wasting time instead of just accepting the penalty stroke and moving on.
@@lairdcummings9092The pros do have a time limit for finding a lost ball like this before they must take the penalty… sometimes they get lucky and find it in a semi-playable spot… most times it’s gone for good, or it’s in a spot where they wish they took the penalty. Risk/reward.
I once worked for a huge Swiss based company in the US (ABB). Everyone spoke in acronyms to a point where I was totally lost. They used so many that they actually published a booklet for employees so they could keep up. Me being the ever rebel, I started making up my own acronyms and using them in my presentations as if everyone knew what they meant. Damned if I didn't enjoy those times!
When I worked for a government aerospace contractor we had a huge paperbound book that was revised every few years filled with tens of thousands of acronyms in alphabetical order. The database it was printed from was avaiable on the company computer system. This was our own acronym book. The government itself had another two volume publication just for the aerospace industry, which was also frequently updated. As far as I know there were separate publications for the electronics industry, for computer hardware and software, for pharmaceutical items, etc. There was also a much smaller but still lengthy informal book of the off color acronyms everybody in the industry used. From "FUBAR" to the really raunchy. I still have them squirreled away somewhere.
@@brianmccarthy5557 LOL, FUBAR is one of my favorites. If someone in our office really messed up an account due to bad debits vs. credits they would get a cute sign someone made that had FUBAR written on it and gorgeous artwork surrounding it. No one escaped that sign, even the most account savvy would end up with it sometime.
I appreciate that deep dive! Lets circle around and re focus our efforts on a more ROI focused approach to the new synergistic office work flow. As always we do need to avoid getting stuck in a rut while we all should be getting down to brass tacks on that review in a time appropriate manner! That being said, lets round robin later! Eyes on the prize folks!
Now, that's funny & familiar. I'm glad I no longer have to listen to that b.s. Worked at a Law firm for close to 15 years. They use daily life, general, business, corporate & legal jargon. Sounds much like your comment. lol. The past few years with "that being said" used by everyone from the law firm partners to the maintenance staff just about drove me insane. Couldn't have a conversation without having that phrase thrown in. I cringe when I hear it even though it has it's rightful place in our lexicon. I purposely stop myself, when I feel it racing towards my lips! lol. Thanks for the laugh!
"Touch base" and 'Get your ducks in a row" aren't corporate speak. It's just normal US slang, though they are used a lot in business. Otherwise, I agree, corporate jargon is incredibly annoying. It's been some time since I worked in the corporate world, and fortunately I've forgotten most of it. It gets worse. I think you need to circle back on your deliverables... 😂
You may not have heard this one, but in the US the phrase “table this discussion” means to put it aside for the time being. I believe that in the UK, to table something means to bring it under scrutiny and make an immediate decision about it. It might be restricted to a parliamentary setting in the second sense, but I’ve heard it used in an office setting in the US in the first sense.
it's become very political as well when they want to avoid answering hard questions that would expose them, or they have no idea about the topic at hand because they are crap at their job.
OK, perhaps I am “dating myself” - but the only way I ever heard “circle back” was regarding returning to where you started, either to return to familiar territory (like rabbits do when being hunted) or to do another run (like when military aircraft circle back for another strafing run. Both are used figuratively: a person in a discussion might circle back to a topic or point they are more comfortable with; some yelling at another might circle back to increase emotional impact. There are other uses as well.
My least favorite? To “unpack” something. As in, “We need to unpack this new set of standards.” Merriam says it means: to analyze the nature of by examining in detail In the business world, it means to take something that is clear and simple and add unnecessary complexity to it so that everyone can feel like they’re earning their pay.
For years “pink slip” in California referred to the automobile ownership title. It was literally printed on pink paper and in the old days was often wrapped around the steering column or otherwise displayed on the dashboard. The system changed many years ago but I still sometimes hear people refer to the pink slip when arranging for the sale of a car. The term was immortalized in the song Little Deuce Coupe by the Beach Boys: My little deuce coupe You don't know what I got She's got a competition clutch with the four on the floor And she purrs like a kitten till the lake pipes roar And if that aint enough to make you flip your lid There's one more thing, I got the pink slip, Daddy
Lifelong Californian here. I remember pink slips well & the song! Been around a long time. lol. The Certificate of Title (Pink Slip) was used so that people didn't inadvertently throw the document away, thinking it was trash.
Are pink slips no more? I had a 1964 Ford with a California pink slip and it didn't qualify as a title here in D.C. and I had to wait 30 days for DMV to verify that nobody else had a claim on the vehicle before they would issue me a title for it.
@@jimjungle1397 According to American Title Loan, the state of California printed certificates of title on pink paper until 1988 - hence the term "pink slips." DMV officials adopted this practice to keep car owners from accidentally throwing out this vital piece of paper with other trash.
I worked in the corporate world and gave it up to become a nurse. Saving lives or helping people with their own personal reality made much more sense for me.
At my current job, EVERYONE says that they don’t have time for something by saying that they “don’t have the bandwidth” for it. I’m so tired of that expression.
@@feralbluee Yeah except that "I don't have the time" sounds a Lot more curt, dismissive and pretentious. Where as "I don't have the bandwidth" usually translates to "Would love to help, but I've got enough to keep me busy so I can't" .. It's less confrontational in a sense.
I served in the US military long enough to retire, and then I went to work for the state legislature. My mother was an assistant State Librarian. My father worked for General Dynamics as a data systems analyst, and then as a computer programmer for the county. Each one of those jobs had its own proprietary jargon, so none of us could really talk to any of the others about our jobs and be understood. I'm absolutely convinced that the languages of jargon are there expressly for the purpose of keeping any outsiders from understanding them, and making outsiders feel ignorant and stupid.
I remember going to my first department meeting at a job. There was so much "alphabet soup" ( acronyms) tossed around! I had no idea what most of it meant!
My mom was an attorney working for the state in the medicaid dept. They handled all the contracts with companies paying out doctors, etc. for medicaid recipients, such as Humana, etc. Anyway, this was back in the early days of these types of companies getting formed and they all fall into types of structures whose names all got abbreviated into 3 letter acronyms. I came home from college and told my mom I have no idea what she is saying.
Ah yes, corporate speak. Thank goodness the word "synergy" was left in the late 90s. Now there's a constant question of personal bandwidth. "Do you have the bandwidth to show the intern around?" I don't know, Rebecca, do you mean do I have the patience to show around a 19-year-old college student so he knows where the staples are stored? As if I don't have my own job? As if I have nothing better to do like I'm spending 8 hours a day screenshotting memes on my pho - fine I'll do it.
Ok. Hold on... Back story: My first time working in an office adjacent setting (not retail) we had periodocal departmental meetings, at my second one of these they decided to involve people. Mainly because most of us zoned out due to the meetings being mostly the managers and supervisors discussing things over our pay grade and us grunts defending ourselves from random accusations (occasionally.) So they gave us 'tasks' one person take notes, another with the watch timing each topic, one person "mediating" which means making sure the agenda gets done in the alloted times, etc So, the next meeting, I was "mediating"... even though I had no idea how an agenda worked, just that we had to go through this list they had sent us. Also... the three bosses, forgot all about it. After we spent 10 minutes waiting for them, everyone turned to me, the 28 year old newbie who was now supposed to run this meeting. I. Was. Terrified. I said "Okay, let's get this over with." and started reading down the agenda, most of which I did NOT understand. "OLD news? No? Ok. Project A?" "Nothing new" "Ok, project B?.... nothing? Okay." This went on for five minutes and nobody did anything or said anything to and to anything. I said "Any new news?..." Silence I said ok, I guess that's it. Meeting adju-" And all three bosses walked in. We told them the meeting was over but they made us all sit back down and listen to them talk to each other for the rest of the allotted time. (they were SO GEEKED that we had started the meeting even though they weren't there and considered their scheme to get us involved a HUGE success...smh) We were SO close!
I first heard of Pink Slips when I was in elementary school. My school gave them out to students that were bad. Usually when a student got a pink slip they either got detention after school or suspended from school for 3 days.
Yep same, then I heard about it in the mid 90's when my mother got laid off after nearly a decade from her gov. job working in classified documents at a gov. nuke warhead/waste site.
@@TechNextLetsGo Yep that's one use, and I live near a drag strip, and would go fairly often growing up in the 90's on grudge race nights, and guys would often "race for pinks"
Love it! My Mum and I frequently have rounds of "corporate speak" and have a laugh and a groan. She was a corporate accountant for many years, so she knew all the jargon. We're sure to toss in a "synergy" here and there. In my penultimate year as a grad student, a classmate and I had to create a full-class lesson plan for a made-up course on saying a lot of nothing. It was a great deal of fun, and helped me realize how much I loved learning, doing research, writing papers and discussing linguistics -- but ultimately hated being "an academic." I just couldn't face a career full of jargon, catch-phrases, and all the other ways people with letters after their names are forced to justify how they got them. Thus, I'm now an accountant (but fortunately I work at a private company where I believe one would be slapped if one tried to use any sort of corporate jargon -- bliss...).
Oh...I thought "ROI" meant "Really Odd Idiot". People have been asking me how the "ROI" is on some projects, and my reply has been: "Terrible", "Awful", "Repugnant" only to see the projects get cancelled. I assumed it was because Charlie, the "Really Odd Idiot" was involved. So, some people not directly involved on those projects asked me why the projects keep getting cancelled and I'd whisper, "Charlie, that really odd idiot". One day, not long after, I saw Charlie cleaning out his desk, pink slip in hand. Boy! What a relief that was! Well, that was until about a month later when someone asked me about the "ROI" again. I thought it was an odd question, shrugged and told them: "I really don't know. Charlie left over a month ago. You could go and ask him yourself. I don't keep in touch with him." And then I got about forty-five seconds of blank stares from about a dozen people. It wasn't long after that, I was handed my pink slip and Charlie, the Really Odd Idiot took my place. [This is a complete fiction, of course.]
Oh yeah, and some of this crept over the pond when i was working for an American company in London. I’d hear something in company-wide meetings - next thing my manager was saying it. 😂
Shows like The Office (the British and American versions) probably deserve mention. Also I would love to see Lawrence react to the film Office Space by Mike Judge.
It doesn't matter where in the world you go, there are many things about the corporate world that regular people find very unpleasant. No matter where you go, everyone is so shallow. A corporation is a bureaucracy with a life of it's own. A lot of us don't like any form of corporate culture. It's a cancer on society.
I’ve never worked in Corporate America but I’ve had the “pleasure” of working in county (local) government for over 23 years. If you think corporate office is bad, you should try government: you won’t even get a water cooler or coffee!
I've worked for a non profit for seniors for nearly the past 20 years that's part of meals of wheels, and the local town owns the building I'm in, so I know all about dealing with gov. all the way from the federal level, to state, and all the way down to local small town gov, and it's bring your own dang coffee lol.
@Terry W same here! State worker for 15 years and now a County worker for the past 8 years. Total of 23 years so far in local Gov. I am looking forward to retirement!
You missed "Offline", like during a meeting you might hear someone say "Bob and I will discuss this offline".. and it means they'll discuss it privately, outside of the meeting. Ironically, these days, doing things "offline" might be done via a private zoom call.
It took me a while to realize that OOO in the subject of an email meant Out Of Office. I’m a designer, and thought that they were just putting symbols there. 🤦🏻♀️
When I was teaching ESL I start d by telling my students that almost all US English idioms come from either baseball or trains. I see by this vid you realized it as well
I worked for a while as the phone operator at the Department of Social Services for the county. Our building housed the offices for Food and Nutrition (food stamps), Medicaid, Child Protective Services, Adult Protective Services, and Child Support Services. Each of those departments had their own set of specific jargon. People would phone and rattle off acronyms, and i was expected to know what they were talking about. More than once I felt incredibly stupid for not knowing the lingo specific to those departments.
"Chop, chop, chop" and "baby needs some new shoes" were often said being a "shop rat" in production jobs meaning working fast to get production goals met. Getting a pink slip was usually for getting laid off and that was like winning the lottery because you could collect unemployment.
I cannot figure out your generation because baby needs a new pair of shoes goes back many, many years but what you said about getting a pink slip was not a part of my corporate days. Getting a pink slip was devastatingly humiliating and drawing unemployment even for a week or two was frowned on.
Ahhh, corporate America...I work in an office and hear these plus more. My Asperger's brain knows what they all are, but it always imagines them literally and thinks how dumb they are lol. 😂
But getting literal ducks in a row would be entertaining, at least. My husband recently had a medical procedure that took a lot of time to get scheduled and prepared for. He bought a bunch of rubber duckies to give to everyone who helped us get our ducks in a row. It was cute.
I just do not understand why it just people can't speak normally so they can get their job done. Seriously, you have to invent a whole set of vocabulary to appease your corporate mind so called.
The new water cooler is the printer or copier, my 'cube' was located between the copiers and the printers. I was allowed to wear Bose noise reduction headphones, and the section chief gave me batteries out of the office supplies cabinet.
I was the administrative assistant to the Dean of Students at our state's community college - Indianapolis campus. Not only did they adopt corporate speak but it came clothed in scholastic speak.
I can just imagine. Although, one of my weirdest memories from an education class was when a fellow student referred to educational jargon, and the professor got her nose out of joint and argued that there is no jargon in education. A few students tried to argue with her for a few minutes, but then I think all of us just thought, "She's nuts, but she's the one grading us, so move on."
A synonym for "water-cooler chat" (well, more specifically, for "water-cooler gossip") is "scuttlebutt," which has a similar origin-- the "scuttlebutt" on a ship being the cask of fresh water that everyone would drink from.
Unfortunately, I don't have any bandwidth to get the information. I'll have to circle back with you on that one at our next scrum. Kudos to you for asking that great question. I'll send a follow up email by EOD.
Branding, Mission Statement, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), team member, team player, up our game, crunch the numbers, run it by corporate, see what sticks..OMG your video triggered me. I have post career PTSD. All the hours wasted in meetings, all the stupid useless BS. I'm glad I aged out and was forced out. My cardiologist kept asking me who was going to do my job if I was dead. Ageism killed my income but I survived.
Back in the day, before laser printers and email, pink slips were actually pink. It was one of those triplicate forms where the top copy was white, the middle copy was yellow, and the bottom copy was pink. The fired employee got the pink copy. As a separate note, if you buy a car, you might also get the pink slip, which is the car title. In some places, like California, it’s still pink.
Some of those phrases are used in every day life. Like Ducks in a row. I've heard that since I was little and it's been around for so much longer. Corporate stole it from the great depression I believe.
@@grizwoldphantasia5005 I heard it from my father who was born in 1921 who heard it his whole life. I was shocked the 1st time I heard it in a movie. I didn't know others knew it too. Just my family.
The first time I heard someone say, "I need to get my ducks in a row," I was in my 20s. At the confused look on my face, the fellow then said, "It means I have to get my shit together." That one I understood!
Having spent most of my career in Corporate environments, I'd suggest Lawrence produced a serviceable list of phrases used in offices. Some "Corporatese" catchphrases have evolved over time. For example: "Let's take this conversation offline to discuss after the meeting" is becoming more common than "let's not get lost in the weeds on this topic right now...".
Noticed that he doesn't say "lost in the weeds", but "down into the weeds". For someone who uses the word "lost" so often, one would think he would use it here.
If one is wait staff, "I'm lost in the weeds" is a way of asking for help serving folks. Other wait staff and even kitchen folks will ask, "what do you need" you can then let them know how they can help ease your burden and still keep customers happy.
1.Stick a pin it. 2. Do lunch 3. Brainstorming 4.Tighten our belts 5. Hash it out 6. Direct intercourse 7.Bring in the big guns 8.Rattle some cages 9.check the short and the long of it
I work in an office. We definitely use some of these. I actually enjoy "deep dive" because doing a deep dive to find the source of a discrepancy is one of my specialties. I know ROI because when the ROI started dropping a few years ago, they began trying to reverse that trend by cutting benefits and staff.
This video popped up while I was watching one of your other videos - your anniversary video with Tara from three years ago. I’m a newer subscriber, love your videos on any subject.
Office jargon I always heard was ‘FYI’, ‘moving forward’ and ‘make sure we’re all on the same page .’ 😁 I used to think, why don’t we just talk like normal people.
I'm surprised you've never played "Buzzword Bingo." Most of those phrases are included. It's great fun to play on an (Audio-only) 2-hour Powerpoint Presentation conference call!
I'm glad one three-letter acronym made it to the list. While you technically can calculate the number of potential letter/number combinations there are, since each one could stand for wildly different phrases, the possibilities are infinite. There are also an equal number of pronunciation quarrels about them. Naturally, I am always correct about them.
A lot of the terms I've encountered have roots in the military: "My optic is that we need to get a nose under the tent soonest before we open our kimonos. Sure, we could do a dog and pony show, but if they decide to circle the wagons it could all be a Charlie Foxtrot."
Many phrases from horse racing as well. “We stumbled out of the gate, but we’re into the home stretch now.” Then as a deadline approaches its: “Coming down to the wire”.
My corporation has loads of specialized jargon, but a lot of it is protected by the NDA, so let's put a pin in it. Wouldn't want to rock the boat or upset the applecart, or tip our hand, now would we?
I had a big laugh at this video because Corporate America does talk like that! Lol It all sounds so stupid now that I am no longer in that ghastly environment!
Just about every sub-culture has its own vocabulary. Part of good writing is not using jargon unless writing for a very specific audience. P.J. O'Rourke once said that the US Army term for nut (the one that goes on a bolt) was "hexaform rotatable surface compression unit."
I worked in Corporate American for 33 years. It's mind numbing the language that is used. We had a game called BS bingo. Where you try to get a bingo with the stupid words they use. I knew it was too late for me the first time I heard a corp big wig use the term, "Let's take a bio break" which means, a quick break for only those bio needs. Seriously?
I hear "getting your ducks in the row" with people preparing to file for divorce. Finding important documents, financial and bank statements, hiring a lawyer, and possibly renting a house or apartment to move into, are all part of getting your ducks in a row.
Yes, I worked for 34 years in a corporation and have trying desperately to forget it ever since! They suck out your soul and give to the devil and laugh.
the worst one is "work smarter, not harder" which everyone knows translates to " we're going to give you three times the workload with no raise or promotion"
Well, if we have a slight paradigm shift, we will be able to call our customers clients or guests… I’ve tried and tried to forget all of this office Hui… I am so glad to be away from it!
Some of this crosses over to other work environments. In the food industry, when I was young, we would say we were “In the weeds” if we were slammed with customers and getting behind. But the thing I hated most about corporate was all the three letter abbreviations for everything. Sometimes people would uses these so much their sentences were just cobbledegook! 🐝❤️🤗
For more than 20 years, I worked for a large corporation. As time went on, they decided to start bringing in lots of newly-minted MBAs who had no idea what the rest of us (mostly lawyers and editorial types like me) did. In order to communicate these reorgs (jargon!) to us, they made us attend frequent mass meetings full of more jargon and charts, after which they would lay-off (pink-slip) more of the people who actually produced their products. They could never understand why morale was so low.
Never had a corporate job, but I knew most of these phrases. They get used everywhere. Never heard of ROI or Let's not get down in the weeds before, though.
I just retired from 38 years in the Insurance industry at the end of 2021. I just realized I can't remember any of the jargon!! I have been so involved in my hobbies and such, I have made a complete break! Not only did we have general corporate speak, we have insurance speak and tech speak. So glad I have pushed that clear out of my head!!
When I first met the city-bred lady who is my wife now, she kept saying corporate jargon to me in ordinary conversation, and I had no idea what she was talking about. The first one I heard was "How did you leave it with her?" I hadn't the faintest idea what she meant. My least favorite corporate expression is "He signed off on it." That just sounds ludicrous to my little simple mind.
Corporate jargon from 'consultants' is the worst - I guess they feel the need to justify their high cost, and if they can't blind you with their brilliance, they baffle you with BS. We used to make Conference Call Bingo cards, not sure if I was ever brave enough to take it to a meeting... FYI, pink slips come from the use of pink paper for firing notices in 19th century industrial America, and somehow evolved into a reference to the title (ownership record) of a car...
Back decades ago, before computers, there was something in the office called a basket, which was euphemistically referred to as a round file, circular file, or file 13, since they were round, and made of metal.
My least favorite is “an ask.” Oh, you mean a request or an assignment? 15+ years ago I only ever heard “that’s a big ask” when someone had unrealistic expectations. Now “an ask” is a regular business phrase.
I don't mind "action items" because it at least recognizes that many meetings result in no decisions being made and nothing happening, so we need a term for "actually doing something after this discussion"
I worked for an attorney and the chamber of commerce in Anchorage, Alaska. Got a great dose of corporate speak. Even though I no longer work I tend to use some of the terms everyday. Definitely threw me for a loop when I heard these sayings. Would not trade that time in my life for anything.
I started out looking for a career in stage lighting. Working for a theater rep company who's checks were primarily made of rubber, I then went into corporate America. I worked in several large banks before moving to the world of not for profits. Each segment had its own language. None of them made much sense to outsiders but the natives of the industry did understood each other.
You could have gone on for days with the “corporate speak”. I worked in a corporate job at a telecommunications company for 30 years! Thank goodness I am “officially” retired!!! Woo Hoo! If you have never, you should check out Scott Adams…he is famous for his Dilbert cartoons ( about the corporate world. (General and AT&T in particular). He is so spot on! Great video!
UK here, and action item is quite common in my environments. It's one of the corporate-speak phrases I actually don't mind. I work with a lot of people in different countries and general English doesn't always have the same impact in non-native English speakers. An action item has more of a definitive 'immediacy' in it and an expectation of (if it's in the minutes of a meeting) it will be followed up next time. It's a focus point and a commitment to get it done as 'whatever the topic is' is expecting the results of that to proceed with the next steps.
Honestly, none of these are particularly egregious compared to what I’ve seen in modern corporate-speak. These newer phrases seem to most often be used by office climbers who want to be one of a hundred Vice Presidents of something that would have been a manager-level position twenty years ago. They seem designed to convey superiority through use of big, “cool”, or obfuscating words or phrases, when in reality it generally garners disrespect from subordinates. Terms like “circle back” are entirely unnecessary; just say what you mean. My current least favorite is instead of saying “hired” saying “on-boarded”. There’s no sentence improved or made more clear by that. Great video; feel free to circle back to this topic anytime.
My biggest bugbear is "reach out". They mean call, email, or contact in some other way, but they think they're in the Motown combo The Four Tops, so use this ridiculous expression. My (tiny) act of rebellion is when someone on a Zoom/Teams call says this, I literally reach my arm out to one side. Of course, no-one else sees me do this, so it's a little pointless.
I have a British teacher that uses "deep dive" all the time. I wonder if it's more commonly used in Britain than Lawrence thinks. It's true about Baseball terms. That's a great observation.
Very common in the UK corporate world in my experience. As Lawrence said, he didn't have a corporate culture background before being thrown in at the deepend in the US so a lot of these are common across the world. I've never used 'touch base' or 'water cooler' though I am familiar with them. Some are pretty handy as short-hand as they have an actual meaning and give context of what's expected, like deep dive, ROI, action items. If I'm invited to a deep dive I expect to get into detail and will accomodate appropriately and not expect to be told not to get lost in the weeds :). It's all the circling around, paradigm shifts and other empty words that really drive me nuts. Ducks in a row is an odd one, it's one I've used/have heard in normal everyday British life.
My American daughter works in London. She recently changed jobs from working for an American company to an English one. She used the phrase “on the bench” to describe programmers who had hours available to work on projects. It was a new phrase to most and quickly adopted into their corporate vocabulary.
Major League Baseball has a breast cancer awareness day every year. One season the slogan was, "Don't let cancer steal second base." Thanks for reminding me of what I happily left behind when I quit corporate America.
I worked for the US Government. Most of these are used there as well. In addition to ordinary action items, usually generated internally at our office, there was a special class that came down from headquarters. They almost used your suggestion of calling these "tasks", but someone apparently thought they needed to make up a new word, so they are known as "taskers".
So glad you went out and proved them wrong. Keep growing. As an American I learned you work for yourself even when working for a company . You are your own business wherever you are.
Some companies are OBSESSED with creating their own internal jargon and acronyms for daily conversations which only serves to indoctrinate users and clients alike. Thanks Lawrence
Acronyms were THE worst! Especially if you switched industries. There were often the same acronyms that meant completely different things. It could get confusing
I have one very memorable phone call memory with my time in an office. A vendor called with a snazzy new web solution product, and was giving his pitch, full of all the internet corporate jargon you could think of. We did a search for a BS generator and tried one of the results. The vendor rolled with it, and kept going. Excitedly we tried another... and another... The enthusiasm of the vendor increased, and we had this wonderful battle of jargon, which really did assertively orchestrate turnkey systems.
Thanks for opening the kimono on your experience. I appreciate that you are so transparent about your experiences. Many couldn't do what you do since they always keep their cards close to the vest.
I learned at school in England in the 50s that "ducks in a row" originated in British shipyards, as the term "duck" referred to the weights used to hold down wooden ship frames. They had to be in a row, or the keel and framing struts would be out of line.
So it was an English term that came over the pond?
Now, of course, we've got into the nitty-Britty of it! 😉 Seriously, that's cool stuff.
I always just assumed it referred to how actual ducklings will follow their mother around all in a row...
I never knew that! That's very interesting!! Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
This is likely not true. There are quite a number of professed origins for this phrase, but there's no real evidence for any of them, and it's pretty clear that nobody really knows where it actually came from.
To be honest, I never really understood why people seem to feel compelled to come up with all these fancy explanations when the most obvious, and I think most likely, one is simply that it refers to the very common tendency in nature of young ducklings to all walk in a line behind their mother when going from one place to another.
One of the earliest references in print to something like this phrase I have ever heard anyone come up with is actually from Goodrich's Fifth School Reader, written by Samuel Griswold Goodrich (an American author) in 1857:
“Yes,” said the ducklings, waddling on. “That's better,” said their mother;
“But well-bred ducks walk in a row, straight, one behind the other.”
“Yes,” said the little ducks again, all waddling in a row.
“Now to the pond,” said old Dame Duck - splash, splash, and in they go.
In place of “Let’s get our ducks in a row”, I always wanted to dazzle the office with the phrase “Let’s arrange our waterfowl in ascending sequence.”
I like the cut of your jib. I *will* find a way to use that in my next conference call/Zoom that should've been an email.
Tandem Anseriformes?
🤣
That will now probably become a thing, because, defecation occurs.
How about a Fibonacci sequence? 🤣
We used to play something called "office bingo" where the employees would keep score of how often the managers use buzz words like synergy or teamwork and such.
"Buzz word" is another one of those...buzz words.
It's gotten to the point where "Buzzword Bingo" has become... A buzz phrase.
Seems like a great way to not become catatonic when these ppl waffle on!
One shot for teamwork
Two, no- three shots for synergy.
You could do the same with educational institutions, just change up the words
We actually had ducks in the workplace. Well, out in the landscaping just on the other side of the window. Frederick and Mabel and eventually the six eggs in their nest. The company was being dismantled, and the remaining staff rallied around that family. We fed them, and took care that the groundskeepers didn't disturb them. People spent their breaks and lunches watching them through the window. It was good to think of something besides our own fates.
Eventually the ducklings hatched, and spent a few days bobbing around in the office fountain. Then it was time to head for the wild. Someone saw them starting to move, and made an announcement. The whole company left the office and lined up on the street to make sure they could cross safely, maybe 60-70 of us. The family went down the street, down the embankment and into the canal. And yes, they were all in a row. We laughed, and waved goodbye, and cried, and wished them well.
By the next nesting season, our company had also been sent down the canal. It's been 20 years, and I hope that Frederick and Mabel's little descendants are still floating around somewhere.
That's adorable ❤
When we moved into a new test/lab building a few years ago the enpty stretch of land next to us became home to some sheep and a set of beehives - the sheep became adept at hiding, and it was a lunchtime challenge to try spotting them all.
r/ unexpectedly wholesome.
That’s so sweet!
I worked for a very large aerospace company in California. At one point we had a family of burrowing owls dig their burrow in the ground right at the pedestrian entry and exit gate to the plant from the large parking lot where about 50,000 of us parked our cars. The parents and the owlets used to sit at the edge of their burrow and blinkingly watch us walk back and forth about 10 yards away from them at every shift change. Occasionally the parents would come back from a local hunting excursion and the little family would dine while watching us. According to "environmental" groups these birds are supposed to be going extinct due to human contact. Seems rather unlikely. Eventually the wise and wonderful leaders who ruled our magic kingdom decided to drive out the birds and pave the nest over. Now, due to their wonderful leadership, the entire historic area where the world class plant used to build aerospace is itself flattened down, destroyed and either paved over or abandoned to weeds. The former employees, like the owls, are scattered to the four winds.
To be lost in the weeds means to get trapped in meaningless detail and lose track of what you're trying to do
Yep. Golf phrase, for when you shank one off the fairway, and have a go at searching for your lost ball, wasting time instead of just accepting the penalty stroke and moving on.
@@lairdcummings9092The pros do have a time limit for finding a lost ball like this before they must take the penalty… sometimes they get lucky and find it in a semi-playable spot… most times it’s gone for good, or it’s in a spot where they wish they took the penalty. Risk/reward.
@@joermnyc well, yes. But then, they're pros, and know when to cut their losses - yet another CorpSpeak common phrase.
in a green state, they say "lost in the Weed."
Also known as Bikeshedding.
I once worked for a huge Swiss based company in the US (ABB). Everyone spoke in acronyms to a point where I was totally lost. They used so many that they actually published a booklet for employees so they could keep up. Me being the ever rebel, I started making up my own acronyms and using them in my presentations as if everyone knew what they meant. Damned if I didn't enjoy those times!
Try working for the military 😂
When I worked for a government aerospace contractor we had a huge paperbound book that was revised every few years filled with tens of thousands of acronyms in alphabetical order. The database it was printed from was avaiable on the company computer system. This was our own acronym book. The government itself had another two volume publication just for the aerospace industry, which was also frequently updated. As far as I know there were separate publications for the electronics industry, for computer hardware and software, for pharmaceutical items, etc. There was also a much smaller but still lengthy informal book of the off color acronyms everybody in the industry used. From "FUBAR" to the really raunchy. I still have them squirreled away somewhere.
Love a rebel!!
Acronyms have two uses- to make things easier to say, and to make things easier to forget the original meaning of.
@@brianmccarthy5557 LOL, FUBAR is one of my favorites. If someone in our office really messed up an account due to bad debits vs. credits they would get a cute sign someone made that had FUBAR written on it and gorgeous artwork surrounding it. No one escaped that sign, even the most account savvy would end up with it sometime.
I appreciate that deep dive! Lets circle around and re focus our efforts on a more ROI focused approach to the new synergistic office work flow. As always we do need to avoid getting stuck in a rut while we all should be getting down to brass tacks on that review in a time appropriate manner! That being said, lets round robin later! Eyes on the prize folks!
Why did i understand all that and im not even in Corporate America??? 😥
We're going to have to table that for now. If you are not part of the solution you are the problem!
Now, that's funny & familiar. I'm glad I no longer have to listen to that b.s. Worked at a Law firm for close to 15 years. They use daily life, general, business, corporate & legal jargon. Sounds much like your comment. lol. The past few years with "that being said" used by everyone from the law firm partners to the maintenance staff just about drove me insane. Couldn't have a conversation without having that phrase thrown in. I cringe when I hear it even though it has it's rightful place in our lexicon. I purposely stop myself, when I feel it racing towards my lips! lol. Thanks for the laugh!
That entire paragraph is a trigger!
I'm a business writer and that kind of jargon makes me want to sob. Seriously, does that make you feel smart? What the heck are you actually saying?
"Touch base" and 'Get your ducks in a row" aren't corporate speak. It's just normal US slang, though they are used a lot in business. Otherwise, I agree, corporate jargon is incredibly annoying. It's been some time since I worked in the corporate world, and fortunately I've forgotten most of it. It gets worse. I think you need to circle back on your deliverables... 😂
Deliverables, I hadn’t heard that word until sometime last year. I was stumped, had to use context clues to figure it out.
@@CAP198462 railroader jargon is a whole language…I wouldn’t know where to begin, even though I speak it fluently🤔
I disagree touch base is totally.
"Touch base" is almost always used in a work environment. I think it would be weird to say 'touch base' in any social or family interaction.
@@kenc2257 I dunno. I've heard it in casual conversation a lot more than I've ever heard it at work. Maybe it's regional.
You may not have heard this one, but in the US the phrase “table this discussion” means to put it aside for the time being. I believe that in the UK, to table something means to bring it under scrutiny and make an immediate decision about it. It might be restricted to a parliamentary setting in the second sense, but I’ve heard it used in an office setting in the US in the first sense.
"circle back" is another great and super-annoying corporate buzzword
it's become very political as well when they want to avoid answering hard questions that would expose them, or they have no idea about the topic at hand because they are crap at their job.
OK, perhaps I am “dating myself” - but the only way I ever heard “circle back” was regarding returning to where you started, either to return to familiar territory (like rabbits do when being hunted) or to do another run (like when military aircraft circle back for another strafing run. Both are used figuratively: a person in a discussion might circle back to a topic or point they are more comfortable with; some yelling at another might circle back to increase emotional impact. There are other uses as well.
Using “super” to mean “very” is just as, if not more than, any corporate nonsense that you could even dream of. Just stop it, please.
As a corporate worker, I'm team let's talk like people as I despise the term circling back.
Our office put a pin on something so we could then circle back on it later.
My least favorite? To “unpack” something. As in, “We need to unpack this new set of standards.”
Merriam says it means: to analyze the nature of by examining in detail
In the business world, it means to take something that is clear and simple and add unnecessary complexity to it so that everyone can feel like they’re earning their pay.
For years “pink slip” in California referred to the automobile ownership title. It was literally printed on pink paper and in the old days was often wrapped around the steering column or otherwise displayed on the dashboard. The system changed many years ago but I still sometimes hear people refer to the pink slip when arranging for the sale of a car. The term was immortalized in the song Little Deuce Coupe by the Beach Boys:
My little deuce coupe
You don't know what I got
She's got a competition clutch with the four on the floor
And she purrs like a kitten till the lake pipes roar
And if that aint enough to make you flip your lid
There's one more thing, I got the pink slip, Daddy
Thank you now I know what they talking about in the film "Grease".
Lifelong Californian here. I remember pink slips well & the song! Been around a long time. lol. The Certificate of Title (Pink Slip) was used so that people didn't inadvertently throw the document away, thinking it was trash.
@@jenniedarling3710 "We're racing for pinks!"
Are pink slips no more? I had a 1964 Ford with a California pink slip and it didn't qualify as a title here in D.C. and I had to wait 30 days for DMV to verify that nobody else had a claim on the vehicle before they would issue me a title for it.
@@jimjungle1397 According to American Title Loan, the state of California printed certificates of title on pink paper until 1988 - hence the term "pink slips." DMV officials adopted this practice to keep car owners from accidentally throwing out this vital piece of paper with other trash.
A real shark in an office setting would also stink to high heaven after it died from being out of water.
The wonderful detail of Laurence's tie becoming more disorganized with each term is my favorite part of this video
I worked in the corporate world and gave it up to become a nurse. Saving lives or helping people with their own personal reality made much more sense for me.
At my current job, EVERYONE says that they don’t have time for something by saying that they “don’t have the bandwidth” for it. I’m so tired of that expression.
that is really silly - and it takes longer to say! 🙄
🙄 Glad I'm retired
Me too!
That would age quickly.
@@feralbluee Yeah except that "I don't have the time" sounds a Lot more curt, dismissive and pretentious. Where as "I don't have the bandwidth" usually translates to "Would love to help, but I've got enough to keep me busy so I can't" .. It's less confrontational in a sense.
I served in the US military long enough to retire, and then I went to work for the state legislature. My mother was an assistant State Librarian. My father worked for General Dynamics as a data systems analyst, and then as a computer programmer for the county. Each one of those jobs had its own proprietary jargon, so none of us could really talk to any of the others about our jobs and be understood. I'm absolutely convinced that the languages of jargon are there expressly for the purpose of keeping any outsiders from understanding them, and making outsiders feel ignorant and stupid.
I remember going to my first department meeting at a job. There was so much "alphabet soup" ( acronyms) tossed around! I had no idea what most of it meant!
Too many TLAs.... where TLA stands for Three Letter Acronym :)
@@misterkite yes!
My mom was an attorney working for the state in the medicaid dept. They handled all the contracts with companies paying out doctors, etc. for medicaid recipients, such as Humana, etc. Anyway, this was back in the early days of these types of companies getting formed and they all fall into types of structures whose names all got abbreviated into 3 letter acronyms. I came home from college and told my mom I have no idea what she is saying.
We have almost 700 acronyms at work. LOL
@@hiddenname9809 😲
Ah yes, corporate speak. Thank goodness the word "synergy" was left in the late 90s. Now there's a constant question of personal bandwidth. "Do you have the bandwidth to show the intern around?" I don't know, Rebecca, do you mean do I have the patience to show around a 19-year-old college student so he knows where the staples are stored? As if I don't have my own job? As if I have nothing better to do like I'm spending 8 hours a day screenshotting memes on my pho - fine I'll do it.
Ok. Hold on...
Back story: My first time working in an office adjacent setting (not retail) we had periodocal departmental meetings, at my second one of these they decided to involve people. Mainly because most of us zoned out due to the meetings being mostly the managers and supervisors discussing things over our pay grade and us grunts defending ourselves from random accusations (occasionally.) So they gave us 'tasks' one person take notes, another with the watch timing each topic, one person "mediating" which means making sure the agenda gets done in the alloted times, etc
So, the next meeting, I was "mediating"... even though I had no idea how an agenda worked, just that we had to go through this list they had sent us.
Also... the three bosses, forgot all about it.
After we spent 10 minutes waiting for them, everyone turned to me, the 28 year old newbie who was now supposed to run this meeting. I. Was. Terrified.
I said "Okay, let's get this over with." and started reading down the agenda, most of which I did NOT understand.
"OLD news? No? Ok. Project A?" "Nothing new"
"Ok, project B?.... nothing? Okay."
This went on for five minutes and nobody did anything or said anything to and to anything.
I said "Any new news?..."
Silence
I said ok, I guess that's it. Meeting adju-"
And all three bosses walked in. We told them the meeting was over but they made us all sit back down and listen to them talk to each other for the rest of the allotted time.
(they were SO GEEKED that we had started the meeting even though they weren't there and considered their scheme to get us involved a HUGE success...smh)
We were SO close!
"Thirty seconds away from a clean getaway!!"
@@brianmccarthy5557 Indeed!😔
I first heard of Pink Slips when I was in elementary school. My school gave them out to students that were bad.
Usually when a student got a pink slip they either got detention after school or suspended from school for 3 days.
Yep same, then I heard about it in the mid 90's when my mother got laid off after nearly a decade from her gov. job working in classified documents at a gov. nuke warhead/waste site.
I thought it meant, a vehicle title? Like in Fast and Furious, they were racing for pink slips.
@@TechNextLetsGo It can, it has multiple meanings.
@@TechNextLetsGo Yep that's one use, and I live near a drag strip, and would go fairly often growing up in the 90's on grudge race nights, and guys would often "race for pinks"
Love it! My Mum and I frequently have rounds of "corporate speak" and have a laugh and a groan. She was a corporate accountant for many years, so she knew all the jargon. We're sure to toss in a "synergy" here and there. In my penultimate year as a grad student, a classmate and I had to create a full-class lesson plan for a made-up course on saying a lot of nothing. It was a great deal of fun, and helped me realize how much I loved learning, doing research, writing papers and discussing linguistics -- but ultimately hated being "an academic." I just couldn't face a career full of jargon, catch-phrases, and all the other ways people with letters after their names are forced to justify how they got them. Thus, I'm now an accountant (but fortunately I work at a private company where I believe one would be slapped if one tried to use any sort of corporate jargon -- bliss...).
Brilliant! lol
Oh...I thought "ROI" meant "Really Odd Idiot". People have been asking me how the "ROI" is on some projects, and my reply has been: "Terrible", "Awful", "Repugnant" only to see the projects get cancelled. I assumed it was because Charlie, the "Really Odd Idiot" was involved. So, some people not directly involved on those projects asked me why the projects keep getting cancelled and I'd whisper, "Charlie, that really odd idiot". One day, not long after, I saw Charlie cleaning out his desk, pink slip in hand. Boy! What a relief that was! Well, that was until about a month later when someone asked me about the "ROI" again. I thought it was an odd question, shrugged and told them: "I really don't know. Charlie left over a month ago. You could go and ask him yourself. I don't keep in touch with him."
And then I got about forty-five seconds of blank stares from about a dozen people. It wasn't long after that, I was handed my pink slip and Charlie, the Really Odd Idiot took my place.
[This is a complete fiction, of course.]
That's EBIT enough of that.
Oh yeah, and some of this crept over the pond when i was working for an American company in London. I’d hear something in company-wide meetings - next thing my manager was saying it. 😂
Shows like The Office (the British and American versions) probably deserve mention.
Also I would love to see Lawrence react to the film Office Space by Mike Judge.
@@elgatofelix8917
"Nothing. I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything I thought it could be.'
It doesn't matter where in the world you go, there are many things about the corporate world that regular people find very unpleasant. No matter where you go, everyone is so shallow. A corporation is a bureaucracy with a life of it's own. A lot of us don't like any form of corporate culture. It's a cancer on society.
@@elgatofelix8917 spoiler...
...
...
...
Ultimately, the main character, Peter, quits the corporate world and get a job in construction.
Hey Shaun, subscriber here in CA. Fancy meeting you here. Where are you now? Hope the trip is going well!
I’ve never worked in Corporate America but I’ve had the “pleasure” of working in county (local) government for over 23 years. If you think corporate office is bad, you should try government: you won’t even get a water cooler or coffee!
I've worked for a non profit for seniors for nearly the past 20 years that's part of meals of wheels, and the local town owns the building I'm in, so I know all about dealing with gov. all the way from the federal level, to state, and all the way down to local small town gov, and it's bring your own dang coffee lol.
@Terry W same here! State worker for 15 years and now a County worker for the past 8 years. Total of 23 years so far in local Gov. I am looking forward to retirement!
MilSpeak is similarly opaque.
@@coollady2179 might want to complain a bit more quietly. I just hit 30 years, and I've got at least 10 to go.
Yep! Local government here too! No raises, just a pin to say "Thanks."
You missed "Offline", like during a meeting you might hear someone say "Bob and I will discuss this offline".. and it means they'll discuss it privately, outside of the meeting. Ironically, these days, doing things "offline" might be done via a private zoom call.
Or the variation Bob and I will take it off line and back channel a solution
I always used to think a pink slip was a garment women wear.
Car title in California.
In California, it is the clear title to a car, ie. no liens or loans.
It took me a while to realize that OOO in the subject of an email meant Out Of Office. I’m a designer, and thought that they were just putting symbols there. 🤦🏻♀️
I don't play chess, but I might have thought that it means "castle queen side".
When I was teaching ESL I start d by telling my students that almost all US English idioms come from either baseball or trains. I see by this vid you realized it as well
I worked for a while as the phone operator at the Department of Social Services for the county. Our building housed the offices for Food and Nutrition (food stamps), Medicaid, Child Protective Services, Adult Protective Services, and Child Support Services. Each of those departments had their own set of specific jargon. People would phone and rattle off acronyms, and i was expected to know what they were talking about. More than once I felt incredibly stupid for not knowing the lingo specific to those departments.
"Chop, chop, chop" and "baby needs some new shoes" were often said being a "shop rat" in production jobs meaning working fast to get production goals met. Getting a pink slip was usually for getting laid off and that was like winning the lottery because you could collect unemployment.
I cannot figure out your generation because baby needs a new pair of shoes goes back many, many years but what you said about getting a pink slip was not a part of my corporate days. Getting a pink slip was devastatingly humiliating and drawing unemployment even for a week or two was frowned on.
I thought "Baby needs a new pair of shoes" came from gambling, specifically, shooting craps.
@@johnopalko5223 Me, also...I've only heard it used in games of chance.
Ahhh, corporate America...I work in an office and hear these plus more. My Asperger's brain knows what they all are, but it always imagines them literally and thinks how dumb they are lol. 😂
They are dumb. LOL
But getting literal ducks in a row would be entertaining, at least.
My husband recently had a medical procedure that took a lot of time to get scheduled and prepared for. He bought a bunch of rubber duckies to give to everyone who helped us get our ducks in a row. It was cute.
I also have Asperger's... can relate
I just do not understand why it just people can't speak normally so they can get their job done. Seriously, you have to invent a whole set of vocabulary to appease your corporate mind so called.
The new water cooler is the printer or copier, my 'cube' was located between the copiers and the printers. I was allowed to wear Bose noise reduction headphones, and the section chief gave me batteries out of the office supplies cabinet.
Another Corporate Phrase is "Have Your People Contact My People!"
I was the administrative assistant to the Dean of Students at our state's community college - Indianapolis campus. Not only did they adopt corporate speak but it came clothed in scholastic speak.
I can just imagine. Although, one of my weirdest memories from an education class was when a fellow student referred to educational jargon, and the professor got her nose out of joint and argued that there is no jargon in education. A few students tried to argue with her for a few minutes, but then I think all of us just thought, "She's nuts, but she's the one grading us, so move on."
Yep. I've played bingo at a faculty meeting before
Secretary. Just say secretary. “Administrative assistant” is just corporate speak.
Pedagogy.... my most hated Educational Jargon.
Yikes!
Love the tie. Is that a bit of a call back to when Tom Baker was The Doctor?
Glad to see you are thinking outside the box and show good synergy.
A synonym for "water-cooler chat" (well, more specifically, for "water-cooler gossip") is "scuttlebutt," which has a similar origin-- the "scuttlebutt" on a ship being the cask of fresh water that everyone would drink from.
Unfortunately, I don't have any bandwidth to get the information. I'll have to circle back with you on that one at our next scrum. Kudos to you for asking that great question. I'll send a follow up email by EOD.
It's important to leverage high-level synergy to diminish granular metadata.
.......but not after lunch
Branding, Mission Statement, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), team member, team player, up our game, crunch the numbers, run it by corporate, see what sticks..OMG your video triggered me. I have post career PTSD. All the hours wasted in meetings, all the stupid useless BS. I'm glad I aged out and was forced out. My cardiologist kept asking me who was going to do my job if I was dead. Ageism killed my income but I survived.
Back in the day, before laser printers and email, pink slips were actually pink. It was one of those triplicate forms where the top copy was white, the middle copy was yellow, and the bottom copy was pink. The fired employee got the pink copy.
As a separate note, if you buy a car, you might also get the pink slip, which is the car title. In some places, like California, it’s still pink.
I think the car titles in California are rainbow colored now, or at least they were in 1992, when I lived, and owned a car, in California.
@@swaffdog6521 current California car owner. It's multicolored, but mostly pink, and has been for many years.
Some of those phrases are used in every day life. Like Ducks in a row. I've heard that since I was little and it's been around for so much longer. Corporate stole it from the great depression I believe.
I always understood it to be from carnival shooting booths, with plastic (probably wooden originally) ducks line up to shoot at.
@@grizwoldphantasia5005 I heard it from my father who was born in 1921 who heard it his whole life. I was shocked the 1st time I heard it in a movie. I didn't know others knew it too. Just my family.
The first time I heard someone say, "I need to get my ducks in a row," I was in my 20s. At the confused look on my face, the fellow then said, "It means I have to get my shit together." That one I understood!
Having spent most of my career in Corporate environments, I'd suggest Lawrence produced a serviceable list of phrases used in offices. Some "Corporatese" catchphrases have evolved over time. For example: "Let's take this conversation offline to discuss after the meeting" is becoming more common than "let's not get lost in the weeds on this topic right now...".
Yes, I hear it most as "Let's offline this" - which given the last two years of virtual meetings, makes much more sense than previously!
LOL ... "serviceable list" is such an office thing to say. I also hear, "there's a lot to unpack here (in that email, in that comment, etc.)" at work
Noticed that he doesn't say "lost in the weeds", but "down into the weeds". For someone who uses the word "lost" so often, one would think he would use it here.
If one is wait staff, "I'm lost in the weeds" is a way of asking for help serving folks. Other wait staff and even kitchen folks will ask, "what do you need" you can then let them know how they can help ease your burden and still keep customers happy.
1.Stick a pin it.
2. Do lunch
3. Brainstorming
4.Tighten our belts
5. Hash it out
6. Direct intercourse
7.Bring in the big guns
8.Rattle some cages
9.check the short and the long of it
I work in an office. We definitely use some of these. I actually enjoy "deep dive" because doing a deep dive to find the source of a discrepancy is one of my specialties. I know ROI because when the ROI started dropping a few years ago, they began trying to reverse that trend by cutting benefits and staff.
This video popped up while I was watching one of your other videos - your anniversary video with Tara from three years ago. I’m a newer subscriber, love your videos on any subject.
Office jargon I always heard was ‘FYI’, ‘moving forward’ and ‘make sure we’re all on the same page .’ 😁 I used to think, why don’t we just talk like normal people.
I'm surprised you've never played "Buzzword Bingo." Most of those phrases are included. It's great fun to play on an (Audio-only) 2-hour Powerpoint Presentation conference call!
Was anyone tempted to turn it into a drinking game?
2 hours? LOL
I'm glad one three-letter acronym made it to the list. While you technically can calculate the number of potential letter/number combinations there are, since each one could stand for wildly different phrases, the possibilities are infinite. There are also an equal number of pronunciation quarrels about them. Naturally, I am always correct about them.
I can’t stand the use and overuse of “organic” outside of literally organic stuff. Also, overuse and incorrect use of “literally.”
ROI Also means 'release of information" referring to a form giving a provider permission to speak to others about a client's case
A lot of the terms I've encountered have roots in the military: "My optic is that we need to get a nose under the tent soonest before we open our kimonos. Sure, we could do a dog and pony show, but if they decide to circle the wagons it could all be a Charlie Foxtrot."
No Charlie Foxtrots, please!!! You need to track it so a SNAFU doesn't occur! Never forget OPSEC.
@@xo2quilt But if you do you can go for your end run
Sounds totally fubared.
@@fjb4148 nice. Have not heard that word in a very long time lol
@@glenchapman3899 why ya wanna make an old lady run like that??!!
Many phrases from horse racing as well.
“We stumbled out of the gate, but we’re into the home stretch now.” Then as a deadline approaches its: “Coming down to the wire”.
My corporation has loads of specialized jargon, but a lot of it is protected by the NDA, so let's put a pin in it. Wouldn't want to rock the boat or upset the applecart, or tip our hand, now would we?
😛
joyful
Very true, we should table that for now.
I had a big laugh at this video because Corporate America does talk like that! Lol It all sounds so stupid now that I am no longer in that ghastly environment!
Just about every sub-culture has its own vocabulary. Part of good writing is not using jargon unless writing for a very specific audience.
P.J. O'Rourke once said that the US Army term for nut (the one that goes on a bolt) was "hexaform rotatable surface compression unit."
I worked in Corporate American for 33 years. It's mind numbing the language that is used. We had a game called BS bingo. Where you try to get a bingo with the stupid words they use. I knew it was too late for me the first time I heard a corp big wig use the term, "Let's take a bio break" which means, a quick break for only those bio needs. Seriously?
They would have gained more ' teamwork attitude' if they said pee break!
I hear "getting your ducks in the row" with people preparing to file for divorce. Finding important documents, financial and bank statements, hiring a lawyer, and possibly renting a house or apartment to move into, are all part of getting your ducks in a row.
Yes, I worked for 34 years in a corporation and have trying desperately to forget it ever since! They suck out your soul and give to the devil and laugh.
the worst one is "work smarter, not harder" which everyone knows translates to " we're going to give you three times the workload with no raise or promotion"
Well, if we have a slight paradigm shift, we will be able to call our customers clients or guests… I’ve tried and tried to forget all of this office Hui… I am so glad to be away from it!
"At the end of the day", you need to "think outside the box", and bring it "to the next level".
Some of this crosses over to other work environments. In the food industry, when I was young, we would say we were “In the weeds” if we were slammed with customers and getting behind. But the thing I hated most about corporate was all the three letter abbreviations for everything. Sometimes people would uses these so much their sentences were just cobbledegook! 🐝❤️🤗
For more than 20 years, I worked for a large corporation. As time went on, they decided to start bringing in lots of newly-minted MBAs who had no idea what the rest of us (mostly lawyers and editorial types like me) did. In order to communicate these reorgs (jargon!) to us, they made us attend frequent mass meetings full of more jargon and charts, after which they would lay-off (pink-slip) more of the people who actually produced their products. They could never understand why morale was so low.
Never had a corporate job, but I knew most of these phrases. They get used everywhere.
Never heard of ROI or Let's not get down in the weeds before, though.
I just retired from 38 years in the Insurance industry at the end of 2021. I just realized I can't remember any of the jargon!! I have been so involved in my hobbies and such, I have made a complete break! Not only did we have general corporate speak, we have insurance speak and tech speak. So glad I have pushed that clear out of my head!!
Enjoy your retirement!
@@Vanda-il9ul Thank you!
The UK equivalent of a pink slip is a P95 and the US equivalent of a P95 is a military can opener
@Nicky L oh I wasn't 100% sure I had one when I was a kid but haven't seen one in over 20 years
Now that I looked it up it says it is a P38
When I first met the city-bred lady who is my wife now, she kept saying corporate jargon to me in ordinary conversation, and I had no idea what she was talking about. The first one I heard was "How did you leave it with her?" I hadn't the faintest idea what she meant. My least favorite corporate expression is "He signed off on it." That just sounds ludicrous to my little simple mind.
Corporate jargon from 'consultants' is the worst - I guess they feel the need to justify their high cost, and if they can't blind you with their brilliance, they baffle you with BS. We used to make Conference Call Bingo cards, not sure if I was ever brave enough to take it to a meeting...
FYI, pink slips come from the use of pink paper for firing notices in 19th century industrial America, and somehow evolved into a reference to the title (ownership record) of a car...
@@TheRealBatabii there's a whole TV show dedicated to guys drag racing for them, called 'Pinks'... It's definitely a thing.
Here in California the slips that actually prove you're the owner are pink. Hence the name. It's used here universally.
The Fast and The Furious franchise also called them pink slips. It was supposed to take place in Cali so that makes sense.
@@TheRealBatabii Listen to "Little Deuce Coupe" by the Beach Boys
@@TheRealBatabii I guess I'm a lot older than you. LOL
Back decades ago, before computers, there was something in the office called a basket, which was euphemistically referred to as a round file, circular file, or file 13, since they were round, and made of metal.
Long time fan here. Have you ever heard the expression “Time ✈️ Flys”?
THANK YOU 🙏 LOST IN THE POND FOR ALL THE AWESOME VIDEOS!!! 👏🔥🥊
Time flies like an arrow.
Fruit flies like a banana.
From the Latin "Tempus Fugit," i.e. "Time flees/escapes". It was coined by Virgil in "Georgics".
Time flies is a common expression in the UK. Also tempus fugit is also a quite common saying for many people.
@@rettawhinnery Thank You 🙏 for the reply! ☮️❤️
@@cuttwice3905 Thank You 🙏 for the reply! ☮️💕
My least favorite is “an ask.” Oh, you mean a request or an assignment? 15+ years ago I only ever heard “that’s a big ask” when someone had unrealistic expectations. Now “an ask” is a regular business phrase.
American IT has its own set of cliches to add on top of all that!
You are always entertaining and insightful, Lawrence!
I don't mind "action items" because it at least recognizes that many meetings result in no decisions being made and nothing happening, so we need a term for "actually doing something after this discussion"
You've never had a dog and pony show? First term I learned in the federal government.
Some of these I've never heard of, but then again I've never worked in an office. Pink slip to me is ownership papers particularly for a car.
Euphemisms are all over American English.
There is a big difference between euphemism and jargon
@@kevinbarry71 Not in America.
I worked for an attorney and the chamber of commerce in Anchorage, Alaska. Got a great dose of corporate speak. Even though I no longer work I tend to use some of the terms everyday.
Definitely threw me for a loop when I heard these sayings. Would not trade that time in my life for anything.
I started out looking for a career in stage lighting. Working for a theater rep company who's checks were primarily made of rubber, I then went into corporate America. I worked in several large banks before moving to the world of not for profits. Each segment had its own language. None of them made much sense to outsiders but the natives of the industry did understood each other.
They used to say "Let's run it up the flagpole and see who waves" 🤣
You could have gone on for days with the “corporate speak”. I worked in a corporate job at a telecommunications company for 30 years! Thank goodness I am “officially” retired!!! Woo Hoo! If you have never, you should check out Scott Adams…he is famous for his Dilbert cartoons ( about the corporate world. (General and AT&T in particular). He is so spot on! Great video!
My mother's habitual phrase after a work meeting was, "Another hour shot to hell."
In 40 something years I’ve never heard the term “pink slip” used except in movies or by 80 year olds. Never heard “action item” either at all.
I wonder if you ever received one?!
UK here, and action item is quite common in my environments. It's one of the corporate-speak phrases I actually don't mind. I work with a lot of people in different countries and general English doesn't always have the same impact in non-native English speakers. An action item has more of a definitive 'immediacy' in it and an expectation of (if it's in the minutes of a meeting) it will be followed up next time. It's a focus point and a commitment to get it done as 'whatever the topic is' is expecting the results of that to proceed with the next steps.
Weird Al did a hilarious parody about corporate jargon in the style of a Crosby, Stills and Nash song called Mission Statement.
Honestly, none of these are particularly egregious compared to what I’ve seen in modern corporate-speak. These newer phrases seem to most often be used by office climbers who want to be one of a hundred Vice Presidents of something that would have been a manager-level position twenty years ago. They seem designed to convey superiority through use of big, “cool”, or obfuscating words or phrases, when in reality it generally garners disrespect from subordinates. Terms like “circle back” are entirely unnecessary; just say what you mean. My current least favorite is instead of saying “hired” saying “on-boarded”. There’s no sentence improved or made more clear by that.
Great video; feel free to circle back to this topic anytime.
My biggest bugbear is "reach out". They mean call, email, or contact in some other way, but they think they're in the Motown combo The Four Tops, so use this ridiculous expression. My (tiny) act of rebellion is when someone on a Zoom/Teams call says this, I literally reach my arm out to one side. Of course, no-one else sees me do this, so it's a little pointless.
I have a British teacher that uses "deep dive" all the time. I wonder if it's more commonly used in Britain than Lawrence thinks. It's true about Baseball terms. That's a great observation.
Very common in the UK corporate world in my experience. As Lawrence said, he didn't have a corporate culture background before being thrown in at the deepend in the US so a lot of these are common across the world. I've never used 'touch base' or 'water cooler' though I am familiar with them. Some are pretty handy as short-hand as they have an actual meaning and give context of what's expected, like deep dive, ROI, action items. If I'm invited to a deep dive I expect to get into detail and will accomodate appropriately and not expect to be told not to get lost in the weeds :). It's all the circling around, paradigm shifts and other empty words that really drive me nuts.
Ducks in a row is an odd one, it's one I've used/have heard in normal everyday British life.
My American daughter works in London. She recently changed jobs from working for an American company to an English one. She used the phrase “on the bench” to describe programmers who had hours available to work on projects. It was a new phrase to most and quickly adopted into their corporate vocabulary.
Major League Baseball has a breast cancer awareness day every year. One season the slogan was, "Don't let cancer steal second base."
Thanks for reminding me of what I happily left behind when I quit corporate America.
I worked for the US Government. Most of these are used there as well. In addition to ordinary action items, usually generated internally at our office, there was a special class that came down from headquarters. They almost used your suggestion of calling these "tasks", but someone apparently thought they needed to make up a new word, so they are known as "taskers".
Water coolers work better when they are filled with beer
As a diabetic...for me...it’s diet sodas!!
Scuttlebut tells me that is true.
“Low hanging fruit” - kills me every time! 😅
Would “getting the tin tag” be similar to getting a pink slip?
Lawrence, your sense of humor is brilliant! All of the phrases you talked about are also in government offices.
Laurence: I'm really into this being American thing
Also Laurence: still hasn't figured out baseball references 🤣
So glad you went out and proved them wrong. Keep growing.
As an American I learned you work for yourself even when working for a company . You are your own business wherever you are.
Some companies are OBSESSED with creating their own internal jargon and acronyms for daily conversations which only serves to indoctrinate users and clients alike. Thanks Lawrence
A major company I worked for was fond of T.L.A .. Three Letter Abbreviations ... It was hell.
Acronyms were THE worst! Especially if you switched industries. There were often the same acronyms that meant completely different things. It could get confusing
My company has so much internal jargon that someone even created an app where you could quickly look up the terms.
@@Braaains 😂🤣😂🤣😂
I have one very memorable phone call memory with my time in an office. A vendor called with a snazzy new web solution product, and was giving his pitch, full of all the internet corporate jargon you could think of. We did a search for a BS generator and tried one of the results. The vendor rolled with it, and kept going. Excitedly we tried another... and another... The enthusiasm of the vendor increased, and we had this wonderful battle of jargon, which really did assertively orchestrate turnkey systems.
I have NEVER worked in the "corporate world" & THAT'S why!😂
Thanks for opening the kimono on your experience. I appreciate that you are so transparent about your experiences. Many couldn't do what you do since they always keep their cards close to the vest.