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Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 13th, 2019, 4:22 pm
by Howyoudoin
Boss "I heard you were malingering yesterday?"

Intern "Huh? I wasn't even in yesterday."



Cue me literally laughing out loud as seems I am one of few in the office to actually know what malingering means.

:lol:

HYD

Re: Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 13th, 2019, 6:17 pm
by Gersemi
Yes, I'm really starting to feel old in the office now as I seem to be constantly using words that other people don't know. I suppose it is an education for them. Today's word was 'Eire' .

Re: Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 14th, 2019, 5:39 pm
by sg31
I bought a 12 of a particular item and at the check out I was asked how many I had, I said "a dozen". The young woman looked confused.

Thinking she hadn't heard what I said I repeated " a dozen". Another confused look so my wife said "12".

"Oh, why didn't he say so?"

She had no idea how many a dozen was. It's not as if she was from another country she was a local girl. I still can't comprehend what happened.

Re: Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 14th, 2019, 5:46 pm
by UncleIan
Anyone else watch gogglebox? There's two young lasses on there and I thought they weren't very bright, but last week it turned out one had never heard of NASA. NASA. Yes really. :roll:

Re: Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 14th, 2019, 5:56 pm
by Gaggsy
UncleIan wrote:Anyone else watch gogglebox? There's two young lasses on there and I thought they weren't very bright, but last week it turned out one had never heard of NASA. NASA. Yes really. :roll:


Young lasses you say? Well it's hardly surprising then. It's got to be 15 years since he was England Cricket Captain.

Re: Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 14th, 2019, 7:28 pm
by stevensfo
sg31 wrote:I bought a 12 of a particular item and at the check out I was asked how many I had, I said "a dozen". The young woman looked confused.

Thinking she hadn't heard what I said I repeated " a dozen". Another confused look so my wife said "12".

"Oh, why didn't he say so?"

She had no idea how many a dozen was. It's not as if she was from another country she was a local girl. I still can't comprehend what happened.


That IS weird. Whenever I come back to the UK, I love the way people still use pounds, dozens, stones, miles etc. It makes me feel at home.

But I also had those 'moments'. I still remember the very first time I heard the expression 'I know where you're coming from'. Outside our son's Primary school, 1998. I wondered for a second, how could this woman know where we've been living, when it clicked. Then I heard it more and more, but still hate it. Soon after, somebody used it a Radio 4 program about Palestinians and Israelis and it was quite funny to hear the confused answers. Where am I coming from? Er... Israel? Then there's 'sorted' instead of 'sorted out'. I mean, why?

But it all makes life fun, so why not? :-)

Re: Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 14th, 2019, 8:10 pm
by panamagold
stevensfo wrote:Then there's 'sorted' instead of 'sorted out'. I mean, why?

But it all makes life fun, so why not? :-)


Yeah, I know where you're coming from.

Re: Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 14th, 2019, 10:37 pm
by melonfool
Two words I used at work today, with different people, that got me blank looks:

lexicon - I said "it would be good to have a project lexicon", it was clear no-one knew what I meant, which is a bit ironic.....

lacuna - one of my favourite words. I said "there is a lacuna on this issue in the policy" - dumbstruck silence.....

Sigh

I don't even think they are very unusual words.

Mel

Re: Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 14th, 2019, 11:13 pm
by AleisterCrowley
Lacuna is quite an unusual word, rarely heard.
I prefer 'gap' ...
And is a lexicon just a posh glossary of terms?

Re: Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 15th, 2019, 12:04 am
by UncleEbenezer
AleisterCrowley wrote:Lacuna is quite an unusual word, rarely heard.
I prefer 'gap' ...
And is a lexicon just a posh glossary of terms?

If we had a lexicon of Melspeak, we cound understand her lacuna.

Re: Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 15th, 2019, 8:34 am
by UncleIan
melonfool wrote:lacuna - one of my favourite words. I said "there is a lacuna on this issue in the policy" - dumbstruck silence.....

Sigh

I don't even think they are very unusual words.


+1 to the "I've never heard that word before, to my knowledge, in my entire life" gang.

I used to work for an old school family firm, the boss was a posh old dame, lovely, and when something had not gone as planned, she usually described it as an infelicity, as in, "the product was late this month due to a small infelicity with the data" I've never heard anyone else use it before or since. Great word though.

Re: Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 15th, 2019, 9:00 am
by scrumpyjack
The word was used in Parliament yesterday by Oliver Letwin

' were it not for the infelicity of the fact that it would knock out the Government’s motion'

I think I recall it being used in Parliament not that long ago (might have been Boris) as an acceptable way of referring to a lie!

Re: Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 15th, 2019, 9:12 am
by AleisterCrowley
UncleEbenezer wrote:
AleisterCrowley wrote:Lacuna is quite an unusual word, rarely heard.
I prefer 'gap' ...
And is a lexicon just a posh glossary of terms?

If we had a lexicon of Melspeak, we cound understand her lacuna.



Using 'lexicon' rather than the more correct (in my opinion) 'glossary' is just wilful obfuscation :)

Re: Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 15th, 2019, 9:35 am
by tjh290633
We used to play the card game Lexicon in my younger days. It must have gone out of favour, no doubt leaving a lacuna in the minds of our Scrabble playing generation.

TJH

Re: Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 15th, 2019, 9:47 am
by AleisterCrowley
"Round these parts" lexicon is familiar as the name of the shopping centre in Bracknell...
(I hate Bracknell, it has no soul...)

Re: Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 15th, 2019, 11:10 am
by UncleEbenezer
AleisterCrowley wrote:(I hate Bracknell, it has no soul...)

But does she have a handbag?

I remember many years ago (pre-GPS) on a Sunday morning, trying to cycle through Bracknell on my way from London to Wokingham, where I was invited to lunch with friends. As I entered Bracknell, I saw a dedicated cycleway parallel to my road, and a sign urging all cyclists to use it. Pretty soon it parted company from the main road, and wound its way to ... *** knows where, and a network of those cycle paths, with no signposts for anywhere I'd heard of (like Wokingham, or Reading, nor even back to London). Had to double back and go round a ring road, where my exit was indeed adequately signposted.

(Does anyone have anything good to say about the place?)

Re: Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 15th, 2019, 11:24 am
by AleisterCrowley
It was a nice wee village in Wilde's day, before it was 'developed'

I really can't think of anything good to say about the place.

Re: Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 15th, 2019, 11:54 am
by bungeejumper
AleisterCrowley wrote:It was a nice wee village in Wilde's day, before it was 'developed'. I really can't think of anything good to say about the place.

I can. It provides a nice cut-through route from the southern M25 if you want to hit the westbound M4. Straight down the M3, neatly bypassing Heathrow, and then northward up the laughingly named Berkshire Way. Too many roundabouts, though, and Bracknell's in the way. The journey would be much quicker if they just knocked it down.

BJ

Re: Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 15th, 2019, 1:43 pm
by stewamax
AleisterCrowley wrote:Using 'lexicon' rather than the more correct (in my opinion) 'glossary' is just wilful obfuscation :)

Or a terminological inexactitude?

Re: Office Conversation of the Day

Posted: March 15th, 2019, 1:52 pm
by AleisterCrowley
'Let us not bandy semantics', as the Grand Moff once said (in Episode IV, ANH)