rossedwards.net » words

Jargonomics

Ross — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:42:42 +0000

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

Ross — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 13:13:44 +0000

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

Ross — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 15:09:40 +0000

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….

A few of my favourite things… er, words.

Ross — Fri, 26 May 2006 11:30:12 +0000

I’ve always enjoyed words – the more unusual, the better. Sometimes it’s the meaning (especially true of words from other languages); where there is no English equivalent. Sometimes it’s the sound they make, or the way they roll off the tongue.

A few of my favourites:

Zeitgeist
Schadenfreude
Tmesis
Plinth

I’m also a fan of long-forgotten phrases… Things that were once commonly heard in the playgrounds of the UK that have somehow drifted into obscurity, such as:

“Urgh! Miss – Johnny did a blow-off”, or
“You’re such a Jonah”.

Of course, I exclude the insults that we once hurled at each other… In this enlightened age, terms such as ‘flid’ or ‘spaz’ are taboo, and quite rightly so. However, when we were seven or eight years old, we were blissfully unaware of their origins – consequently such appellations were circulated with gay abandon (hark at me; swallowed a dictionary today?).

Not that you hear anything of the sort in today’s society… They probably know more swear words and street slang than I ever did.

Enough from me – anyone else have any good words to share?