So I made it through that dreaded sixtieth birthday unscathed. It's funny how we elevate the anticipation and mark the days till our birthday and then it comes and goes and we are startled at the fact that it is gone.
So, I am officially in my 7th decade of life. Wow.
The day before my birthday we had a staff meeting at work and I realized without a shadow of a doubt how different I am in my work place diction.
I am the oldest person here at the office (actually I seem to be the oldest person ANYWHERE these days) and although I have quit saying "bitchin" and "doobie" and psycholdelic" I am so not liking the NEW and improved work place catch-phrases (which is one in of itself). Let's go over a few...
"Team Players" analogies:
"Step up to the Plate" which in my day was, "Get the job freakin' done".
"Hit it out of the park" which in my day was "Get the freakin" job done and do it RIGHT!"
"Take one for the team." which in my day was "You are fired."
Then there is the "At the end of the Day..." phrase that annoys the hell out of me. I swear I hear that phrase a hundred times a day and I really don't get it. I mean, I think we used to say, "When all is said and done" which makes more sense to me because you can't solve every problem by the end of the day.
The NEWEST phrase that is bothering me immensely is, " That is (or isn't) in my wheelhouse". Does anyone who says that actually know what a "wheelhouse" even is?
So all these phrases were uttered in that 30 minute staff meeting and I don't know WHY I let these stupid phrases bother me but upon reflection I think it's because of the lack of imagination required in defaulting to these sayings. Originality is definitely taking a back seat in our communication skills. Also the whole "team player " idea is a bit disconcerting because I think it displays lack of originality again- that we shouldn't think independently or feel different than our coworkers and that we are all should be good little team players and play the same game.
So I am sugggesting to all that are reading this: Try today NOT to say ANY of these phrases for a month and anyone who does say them in your center of influence (another trendy phrase but necessary to make my point here).
Good luck.... !
OMG. This is hilarious. And man, are you your father's daughter. Having worked in the corporate world for 8 years now, I can add some to your list. "Let's go granular on this," meaning, analyze this a bit more. "Leverage that opportunity," like--take advantage of this situation. "The optics are bad." This means: this looks like shit and is probably unethical. I'll keep thinking of more.
ReplyDeleteAs for being the oldest person in the room--yeah that happened to me a while ago. I have to reframe most of my references and not talk about where I was when JFK was shot, instead say something about 911. I haven't changed my usual exclamatory words much--often use "groovy" just to freak people out. And "that's the bees' knees," of course, when I want people to think I was alive in the1920s.
Great post.
My most hated overused term is this introductory section of a sentence: "There's nothing worse than... (insert awful subject such as wrinkled pants or bad hair days)." There are so MANY worse things. One I know I use too often but still like is "I'm with you!" or "I get it!" I like the rare feeling of camaraderie. I do know for certain that not one of us Willcox/Hinds sisters is anything but unique.
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