For Example: In order to maximize our revenue, we need to think outside the box and facilitate our resources and utilize our task force team to generate a win-win situation.
Why can't they just say: If our company doesn't make money, you will be let go.
Can somebody explain why, in both corporate lingo terms and in simple layman's terms? I will be much obliged and reward you handsomely with 10 units of Yahoo rewards if you can reveal your competency. Or in other words, 10 points for the best answer.
2007-05-18 13:09:29 · 7 answers · asked by cap3382 4 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
ah-ha! you're on to one of the ways 'specialists' stay specialized. they've invented their own vocabulary complete with terms designed to elucidate... THEM and intimidate... US! by fogging up the lines of communication, they stay in control and the outsider stays in the dark, needing to refer to them for help.
it's not just corporate people~ think also of legalese terms designed to send us crawling to an attorney to decipher, medical terms that leave us scratching our heads and asking 'huh?', and my favorite, mechanical oddities like the little 'whatchamakallit' and the tiny 'doo-hickey' that are responsible for everything from the refrigerator light working properly to the earth's rotation.
my theory is by obfuscating (that's hiding) the intricacies (details!) of the proliferation (many of) of the inner workings of the corporation, the most plausible (likely) conclusion is (is) that downsizing (well we ALL know what's coming now, don't we?) is necessary. so SAY it: "YOU'RE FIRED!"
2007-05-19 02:40:28 · answer #1 · answered by patzky99 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Most -- if not all professions have their own "language". Sometimes it's used so that everyone within that particular profession will be able to understand each other (much the same way any language is used). (Can you imagine a surgeon asking for that thingamajig or whatsit?)
However, I've found that a lot of people use lingo to separate (and usually elevate) themselves from the general crowd. Or to say something really, really foul in a rather innocuous way. (Governments are a great example of this. For instance, "to terminate with extreme prejudice" means to kill.)
I like that quote from author Iris Murdoch: "The careful responsible skilled use of words is our highest instrument of thought and one of our highest modes of being: an idea which might seem obvious but which is not by any means universally accepted."
2007-05-18 13:25:54 · answer #2 · answered by pat z 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Ha! That IS a good question, and very true. I'm an MBA and work in a traditional consulting culture. I will admit to my share of "paradigm shifts" and "out-of-the-box scenarios". Like anything else, its a way for ppl to confirm that they're in the know and educated to an inside culture, but winds up ultimately sounding horribly banal with overuse. All ppl are guilty of doing this, just like suburban kids using words like "bling", "dawg" and "fo' shizzle".
U will be satisifed to know though, that that this is what u call middle manager speak. C-level management will ALWAYS speak in plain terms because they have nothing to prove. Check out any analyst call.
2007-05-18 13:24:03 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
HA! What a great question.
Lingo tends to start because people working in a particular field get used to talking the same way, all of them pick up on it, and pretty soon everyone is saying the same things.
Someone comes up with a new way to say something and everyone thinks it's cool when they first say it. But it gets tired really fast, but by then it's part of the business culture and everyone still says it.
2007-05-18 13:14:07 · answer #4 · answered by Behaviorist 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yeah, each profession does have it's own lingo. Sometimes, it's to be precise in what one is and is not saying, even though it may confuse outsiders; Law in particular is like that. Sometimes, however, the jargon is to avoid saying anything at all, and that's corporate speak and politicians.
2007-05-18 13:50:19 · answer #5 · answered by open4one 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't have any of them there fancy MBA kind of papers or nothing, but I think it's got-ta-do with them higher up people wanting us lower people to think they're all smarter than us, so they use them real big words to confuse us and keep us guessing at what they're really talking about!
2007-05-23 01:39:05 · answer #6 · answered by tam_is_me23 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
When compelled to engage in verbal reportage with the illiterati, one must make every effort to obfuscate to avoid the transfer of vital data.
Meaning: if you must talk to your workers, try to avoid giving them any useful information.
2007-05-23 03:09:06 · answer #7 · answered by morgan j 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋