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Original poster

Is anyone else aware of this?

73 replies

Winniethewitchy · 22/08/2023 19:59

I'm not sure where else to put this... but interested to see if anyone else is aware of the code talk language between men in the office around women?
Would love to hear any phrases that you can shed some light on...

I'll start "wawawiwa" = code cat call for a drop dead gorgeous woman.

I've heard this being spoken in may offices I've worked in over the years. Always used mostly by men to men when they are highlighting a woman they find attractive without directly saying it.

OP posts:
eurochick · 23/08/2023 07:42

Nope. I've worked in shops and offices for over 20 years. I've heard a lot of banter but never that. Apart from in the Borat film.

Caprisunny · 23/08/2023 07:47

Winniethewitchy · 22/08/2023 20:11

Check out the urban dictionary.

The vast majority of men I work with wouldn’t have a clue about Urban dictionary.

Like Pp apart from someone passing the odd movie quote or joke that everyone is in on, this doesn’t happen in any office I work in.

Might have to sometime explain a quote to the younger ones. Like someone said ‘He is not the messiah, he is a very naughty boy’ in response to someone saying ‘oh they shouldn’t have done that. That’s naughty….it’s not compliant at all’ and one person who is early 20s didn’t get the quote. It was explained. Everyone moved on.

No one is left wondering what the men are going on about. I would guess they do talk about women they find attractive in private. But that’s just my assumption. But non are stupid enough to do it in an open office, in a not so secret code.

FloydPepper · 23/08/2023 07:55

Man here. If there’s a secret code then nobody told me.

never heard that or any other code in any office ever

Globe22 · 23/08/2023 07:55

James Bond fans maybe 🤔 Wawawawa! Goldfinger, he’s the man the man with Midas touch!

FrownBrown · 23/08/2023 07:57

Nope. Never heard anything like that.

Wsmi · 23/08/2023 07:59

Where do you work, OP? And what on earth are you talking about? Weird.

Whatswhatwhichiswhich · 23/08/2023 08:13

PMSL don’t get all your info from the tv and high school OP.

AngelinaFibres · 23/08/2023 08:25

Husband worked for a large German company for years. No banter, no personal comments , no sexism. The culture was upheld absolutely by the older staff so anyone new coming in as a recent graduate would have very quickly picked up the expected behaviour. He would have no idea what you were talking about

Marchitectmummy · 23/08/2023 08:37

AngelinaFibres · 23/08/2023 08:25

Husband worked for a large German company for years. No banter, no personal comments , no sexism. The culture was upheld absolutely by the older staff so anyone new coming in as a recent graduate would have very quickly picked up the expected behaviour. He would have no idea what you were talking about

This behaviour is not specific to German companies.

CoreopsisEverywhere · 23/08/2023 08:48

Is it the same guy who was looking at your legs a couple of weeks ago (other thread)?

CoreopsisEverywhere · 23/08/2023 08:49

And no. I have never come across anything like this. I’d think someone who came out with gibberish like that was unwell.

Aquaphant · 23/08/2023 08:54

Lol no, and as other's have said that's a quote from Borat. If a woman's attractiveness comes up in the office for some reason, the men I work with would just say she's fit or something along those lines. It rarely happens out in the open though, they must be able to keep it contained until they are in private or on lunch.

Overdemanding · 23/08/2023 09:01

I worked in offices in the 1980s where there was plenty of questionable behaviour and I've worked predominantly with men ever since. Never experienced that and on the whole, I find men are very careful/respectful in the workplace now.

Coral569 · 23/08/2023 09:02

What kind of office do you work in??

TheHateIsNotGood · 23/08/2023 09:05

In my day...we'd just go "Corrrrrr" (woman here).....

Overdemanding · 23/08/2023 09:07

Actually IME women are now "worse" than men for this. No doubt men have their private thoughts and conversations but they understand they can't openly "coarrr" at a woman anymore. Some women otoh still seem to think it's funny.

Mammma91 · 23/08/2023 09:08

I’ve seen men do an eye gesture at another colleague relating to women. Never made a noise though

stealthninjamum · 23/08/2023 09:18

I think teams in workplaces do develop cultures and in jokes (in the early 2000s we did the David Brent dance to communicate when a manager was being useless) but to have such an obvious code for attractive woman makes me think you work with teenagers or idiots.

Robyn847 · 23/08/2023 09:34

Winniethewitchy · 23/08/2023 04:14

So no one has ever heard of 'hot girl alerts'?

I was once quietly working away in a corner of my dept when one of the lads walked over to a slightly older colleague and said "Cop of a load of this!" very enthusiastically, waving a booklet at him. I initially assumed he'd not seen me, and it was a porn mag or the Daily Star they were being blokey over. Oh no, it was the latest Screwfix catalogue.

VeridicalVagabond · 23/08/2023 09:39

When I was a teenager and worked in a shop with other teenagers, some of the boys would say something like "there's a transfer here for Glasgow" to mean "a very attractive woman has just walked in everyone go look".

But since I started working with adults this has no longer been as much of an issue.

Keyworks · 23/08/2023 09:41

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

EffortlesslyInelegant · 23/08/2023 09:43

Isn't the Urban Dictionary for 12 year olds and men in their underpants living in their Mum's spare room?

Mochudubh · 23/08/2023 09:58

EffortlesslyInelegant · 23/08/2023 09:43

Isn't the Urban Dictionary for 12 year olds and men in their underpants living in their Mum's spare room?

And very often, completely wrong about the meaning/origin of terms.

edwinbear · 23/08/2023 10:06

The men in my office do not behave like this, they are professional and respectful and would be horrified at that sort of behaviour.

ManateeFair · 23/08/2023 10:20

Winniethewitchy · 23/08/2023 04:14

So no one has ever heard of 'hot girl alerts'?

No, because I work in real offices and not ones in shit American comedy films.

It's not a thing, OP.

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