Jargonomics

Jun 24

RossRants , 3 Comments

There’s been a raft of articles recently regarding management-speak and other jargon, which I’ve found vaguely amusing… I’ve lost count of the times I’ve heard bosses talk about “leveraging” and “granularity”. But today, after hearing it *so* many times, I just had to vent my spleen about another piece of mangled English.

I am, of course, referring to the ghastly “Can I get…?”; usually when ordering a triple-skinny-mocha-caramel-latté.

Aaaarrgh! If I was the attendant/server, my tongue would be black and blue. Yes, you can “get”, but only if you ask properly. “May I have…?” is more than suitable, and contains the same number of syllables.

It’s not big, it’s not clever – and could possibly get you killed.

Especially if I hear you say it again.

Shaved turkey

Feb 7

RossRants , Comments Off

I know we’re a nation of foodies, but some of the terminology really grates, if you’ll pardon the pun. I mean, today’s sandwich menu at work includes “Shaved turkey caesar with rocket”…

…what’s wrong with “turkey salad”? I don’t know about you but the original description is making for some rather unusual mental imagery.

A few other gastronomical annoyances/translations:

  • Jus – it’s gravy
  • Wrap = sandwich filling surrounded by chamois leather
  • Crepe = deep- or pan-fried chamois leather
  • Pan-fried – what else would you use?
  • “On the vine” – i.e. with the green bits still attached. Why pay extra for someone else’s lackadaisical harvesting?

More word play

Nov 1

RossMusings , Comments Off

Following on from this post, and the regular mention of all-noun headlines over at the BBC’s Magazine Monitor, I’ve noticed a marked increase in the number of “verb-ed” nouns.

Just today, I’ve received an email that claims to have “excerpted” a section of another document.

Anyone else got any good examples? I may start collecting them….

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