Actioning a blue-skies approach outside the box

Chef Napalm

Chef Napalm

Lost in the Supermarket
Slothrop said:
IMO that's another one that's a well defined and specific term for a concept in project management that doesn't have a simple alternative.
Click to expand...
I would agree, when used correctly. In my experience, the phrase, "What are the deliverables?" is most often uttered by some random middle-management fuck who got invited because he/she is a "stakeholder" and is trying really hard to impress the people in the room with clout. Very rarely to I hear it used properly by the deliverer for clarification of his/her responsibilities.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Yeah, very often it's not so much the word/phrase in itself, as the contexts in which it's (mis/over)used and the kinds of people that like to say it.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Should perhaps have gone in 'Pointless but...' - but:

The latest asemic involuntary verbal tic among teens and twennysunninks is "to be fair", as in, "Have you got the time?" "To be fair, it's 8:30".

To be fair in what way? And to whom? Mystifying.
 
Slothrop

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
I've always been a fan of grammatically inconsistent use of "innit", as in "he's my uncle, innit".
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
Slothrop said:
I've always been a fan of grammatically inconsistent use of "innit", as in "he's my uncle, innit".
Click to expand...

can you explain the proper usage to an american? it seems like it would be a replacement for "isn't it?"/"isn't that right?"/"do you know what i mean?", but could have a variation of meaning.
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
I had written a confusing answer, but I think it's just the equivalent of the French 'n'est-ce pas', which cover all possible question tags in one phrase. So we're just following the french, init. Maybe without the question mark, though.
 
Last edited:
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
this one's more for the tech geek crowd, or anyone who's worked in marketing in the past few years...

 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Leo said:
can you explain the proper usage to an american? it seems like it would be a replacement for "isn't it?"/"isn't that right?"/"do you know what i mean?", but could have a variation of meaning.
Click to expand...

It doesn't really mean anything, it's just a thing you say at the end of sentences if you're British and some combination of young, working class and of south Asian descent.
 
M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
Baboon on the money, not just south asian though, it was identified with Greek/Italian people when I was growing up (see Harry Enfield).

I also like "isit", which has a similar use but I think is purely South London.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
mistersloane said:
I also like "isit", which has a similar use but I think is purely South London.
Click to expand...

Interesting, not heard that version but yeah it might be localized, whereas "innit" is pretty cosmopolitan. There's also the Welsh "isn't it?", basically the same thing but more fully enunciated, although that might be one of those idioms that's more of a stereotype these days than something people actually still say a lot.

Edit: that's cool about the French thing, hadn't considered that but I think nicht war? is pretty common in German too.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Anyway, back to crappy/annoying work language: one I encounter here on an almost daily basis is "to get [one's] head around" something. Usually used to describe an actually pretty straightforward and easily understandable task as if it were loop quantum gravity or post-structuralism.

Another one I hate is "gut feel". As a general rule I try not to let the subjective state of my intestines dictate my workflow unless I need to suspend that workflow for a few minutes in order to do a shit.
 
Last edited:
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
From a job description I'm looking at:

We are expanding a team of highly motivated individuals to identify opportunities for, and then drive, strategic initiatives to build lasting and impactful relationships with market leading companies nationally and internationally.
Click to expand...

"impactful" :(
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Tentative Andy said:
We've been hearing about 'milestones' at work a lot this week, as in 'what's our next milestone with this project?' and so forth. I guess as a term it does convey a subtly different meaning from outcome, target, goal etc, but it still seems a bit daft and self-important when used in connection with what is really quite mundane work.
Click to expand...

Looking back over this thread, I reckon you could subvert this one deliciously by pronouncing it "millstone" instead.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I just collaborated with two friends on Facebook to come up with:

ArtisAnal Prune Juice: THE LEVERAGE BEVERAGE​

which I think might just be the best thing ever.
 
L

Lichen

Well-known member
Mr. Tea said:
"Deliverables" can fuck off and all.
Click to expand...

"Deliverables" became necessary because there's so much BS in agency and business strategies and proposals that the 'buyer' needs to be told at some stage what the fuck they're actually GETTING for their money.
 
Slothrop

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
Also because a lot of the time the goal of a project isn't just to provide a box of widgets, it's to provide two APIs, an SDK, a few basic examples using the SDK, a bunch of documentation and a training course for two of the client's developers. Over time you spend a reasonable amount of time discussing what that set of stuff actually is, and hence it's useful to have a simple word for it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top