51–60 of 89 posts
I imagine our pointy-haired bosses would appreciate an "unsuck it" for tech jargon, with stuff like: orthagonal -> unrelated immutable -> unchangeable idempotent -> (is there a very short phrase that works here?)
Seeing all the phrases my old colleagues used has really solidified that leaving consulting was a good choice for my own sanity. Stop trying to ping me on a go-forward basis to utilize and action upcoming synergies in a fulsome manner!
I heard nearly every buzzword bingo term during those meetings. I swore off the idea of every becoming any kind of manager after that. Fast forward a decade, I'm pissed off with how things aren't working and aren't changing so I opt myself into a management adjacent position ("process improvement"). I ended up in many, many more management meetings than I ever want to and learned that there were still more buzzword bingo words for me to learn! I escaped after a time because I realized that they were just playing a convoluted drinking game (I think if you say or hear "synergy" 1000 times it's guaranteed to make you an alcoholic, but the drinks are after hours instead of when the game is played).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know I'm venturing off-topic here, but I believe "above the fold" in the newspaper world referred to story prominence on the front page rather than advertising. I don't recall, even long ago, seeing ads on real newspapers that were both front-page and "above the fold" . I imagine "above the fold" wasn't related to advertising until the web existed.
This applied only to broadsheets (New York Times), and not to newspapers that used tabloid layout (Chicago Sun-Times). The reason "above the fold" was valuable real estate was because whatever was there would be visible in newspaper vending machines, newspaper racks, and the stacks at kiosks. Newspapers that printed on tabloid-sized paper didn't have that problem, since they were not folded horizontally. Tabloid news…
> Illegal Alien: person. This is like saying “another word for car is ‘vehicle’”. It’s not the same thing. Maybe it’s an outdated expression, but it still signifies a person who crossed a country’s border illegally and does not have legal status. Maybe in some libertarian circles where there ideologically are no such things as borders this would be true, but the world exists, countries exist, laws exist and changing…
Actually, it doesn't even mean just that, that's just the popular perception. Anyone not present legally would be an illegal alien, even if they crossed the border legally. I knew many international students who became illegal aliens due to overstaying their visas or who violated their visa in some way through work they did.
If you stump it, you get: "Well, tickle my taint. That one hasn’t come up yet. Not to worry. We’re on it."
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know I'm venturing off-topic here, but I believe "above the fold" in the newspaper world referred to story prominence on the front page rather than advertising. I don't recall, even long ago, seeing ads on real newspapers that were both front-page and "above the fold" . I imagine "above the fold" wasn't related to advertising until the web existed.
When I studied journalism in the early '90s our professors drew a direct correlation between newspapers that showed ads "above the fold" and those that didn't. According to the profs if they practiced the former they were clearly not real journalistic enterprises. USA Today did it and they used it as a case that proved their point. How times change.
I imagine our pointy-haired bosses would appreciate an "unsuck it" for tech jargon, with stuff like: orthagonal -> unrelated immutable -> unchangeable idempotent -> (is there a very short phrase that works here?)
It's not a perfect definition, but I don't think execs really need to know what idempotent is.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This applied only to broadsheets (New York Times), and not to newspapers that used tabloid layout (Chicago Sun-Times). The reason "above the fold" was valuable real estate was because whatever was there would be visible in newspaper vending machines, newspaper racks, and the stacks at kiosks. Newspapers that printed on tabloid-sized paper didn't have that problem, since they were not folded horizontally. Tabloid news…
GP point maintains. At least in my country, I never saw ads above the folder, but the main headlines.
http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2013/01/21/message-of-the-day-a...
It's not necessarily the words themselves, but the type of person who is associated with them. And I hate it when a word I like gets appropriated by unlikable people. "Touch base" and "Bio break" are an exception. Makes me squeal every time, no matter who uses them.