Work Tips with Mark - Professional Slang
Hello all, welcome to another valuable Work Tip, brought to you by me - Mark!
Today we look at an important social tool in any office: professional slang. Slang is used the world over to say common, everyday things in a way that sounds cooler and thus constantly speaks to the younger generation, but ultimately sounding archaic in the long run. The joy of Professional slang is that it will always be hip (just like italics). These phrases will always be used around the office, even if only ironically, between coworkers and superiors alike. So let’s dive in! (Meaning “get started”!)
Today is only fitting for this topic, given the day. It’s Wednesday and the work week as at it’s peak. In business (or “the biz”) Wednesdays are known as “Hump Day”. This is because when the week is viewed as a bell curve, Wednesday comprises the “hump” of the bell. I feel it unnecessary to illustrate my point here, seeing as if you’ve made it into Corporate America, you clearly know what a bell curve looks like. But I digress. “Hump Day” is likely the most well-known article of workplace slang in all the world, but there are more.
“Team Building” is another piece of professional jargon. The hidden joy of this phrase however, is it belies the true intentions of the activities it’s used to describe. “Team Building” is the term professionals use to describe any fun or recreational activity performed while on company time. Some “Team Building” examples include: company picnics, ice cream socials, group outings to athletic events, or just plain, old fun and games. To the outside world, it’s playtime, but to you, Old Nine-To-Five Joe, it’s “Team Building”.
Abbreviations also endure as a part of professional slang. Some of their meanings have been lost to the ages, only to have new meanings applied by today’s lingo-savvy desk jockey. Desk Jockey! That’s more slang. As you can clearly see, it’s difficult to turn it off once you get started. But to the point at hand: the most common abbreviation is TGIF. Again, no one is sure of it’s original meaning, but the workforce at large has assigned it the phrase “Thank God It’s Friday”. A newer, up-and-coming definition, however has deciphered it to mean “Tell (the) Guys I’m Fired”, using it as a jocular means of announcing they’ve left for the weekend. Another abbreviation is HR. This could relate to the “Human Resources” department of any office, but has a few other uses as well. HR has also been known to stand for “Heavy Reading” on especially large e-mails. (are you still following my e-mail guidelines?) It’s further known to stand for “Honest Reaction”, a tag at the end of resumes or e-mails asking for constructive criticism. These flexible (and probably made-up) meanings are what keep the mouths and speech of office workers the world over so hip and trendy.
Office slang is an indespensible tool that aids in smoothing out all of our daily office interactions. Fear not if you hear a piece of lingo you don’t recognize. Just emulate the word or phrase in the same situation down the road and you’ll forego the need to learn any new vocab. Remember, words only having meaning if we give them meaning, so learn some new phrases and just go nuts! That’s all for this edition of Work Tips! Slang in there! (See what I did there?)
