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Wanky Corporate Speak Thread

354 replies

Chil1234 · 07/01/2011 15:49

Inspired elsewhere a thread for your direst examples of wanky corporate speak..... Come ladies, let's run it up the flagpole and see how it flies. For, as one of my old bosses memorably put it 'if we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure'...

OP posts:
FooffyShmoofer · 07/01/2011 20:21

My DSis place is awful for that

Team work makes the Dream work

We are "going live" on Monday

If you are ill "self medicate" and come in.
What is wrong with take a lemsip and come in or take a paracetamol and come in ooor dont bother coming in while you're ill petal.

jonicomelately · 07/01/2011 20:23

I can't imagine ever working for a company like this

I just don't get it.

thebrownstuff · 07/01/2011 20:26

Just sent a note to someone about diarising something earlier today Grin I luurve all the lingo, it's part of the act of masquerading as a specialist in something or other innit...

I must make a note to use granular more often, going forward. We use most of these on a daily basis in my line, never heard of the monkey thing though. And as for the fuck up fairy? You've started a new line their Poncey Grin Grin

Binfullofmaggotsonthe45 · 07/01/2011 20:27

Oh yes join we had the "brand spirit" specialists come in too! Money and oxygen stealing f*ckjockeys in my corporate speak.

AimingForSerenity · 07/01/2011 20:27

My previous boss was a wankspeak idiot and we all had great fun after a funny translation of corporate-speak email replying with the phrase "I'm not sure if that's feasible" whenever possible which translated as "F* Off you wanker".

My two worst hates from him were "tricky" when used as a noun, as in "We've found a few trickies with this project". Was always tempted to email back and ask "a tricky what?"

The other, and even more irritating was LEGENDARY. To me this means tales of bravery and daring that survives for generations, not customer service in a high street chemist!

TheWaterHorse · 07/01/2011 20:31

We are where we are - for when everything has gone wrong

BelleDameSansMerci · 07/01/2011 20:39

My boss keeps saying "For the avoidance of doubt..." I know what it means but it's not ever applied to anything that I doubt anyway.

PonceyMcPonce · 07/01/2011 20:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

dizzeelizzee · 07/01/2011 20:40

Lets put a pin in that... Yuk!

elsiemarley · 07/01/2011 20:47

OMG! Is stretching monkey a new one? I remember loads of the others, 'touch base' has to be one of the worst, swap the last word for cloth in an important networking meeting and there'll be no profile raising for you!

But, stretching the monkey, who thought this one up and more worryingly what will I do if/when I return to work proper and it is used and I laugh, out loud?? I won't be 'excellent' will I? (luckily I left before that one came along)

Binfullofmaggotsonthe45 · 07/01/2011 20:47

Ha ha dizzeelizzee especially when enacting the gesture - placing imaginary pin in imaginary item and then moving said imaginary item to another imaginary space.

TwoIfBySea · 07/01/2011 20:50

If you are feeling lazy you could always just cut and paste what is suggested here.

jujubean · 07/01/2011 21:03

Lots of wanky men kept going on about things being 'vanilla', I worked in financial services not an ice-cream factory, I still have no idea what it means.

SugarMousePink · 07/01/2011 21:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

jujubean · 07/01/2011 21:06

oh in my training program at said company, we had the comment "feedback is the breakfast of champions" still PMSL at that one, as is my entire family

Rollergirl1 · 07/01/2011 21:07

Was this inspired from a certain liverpool football website perchance? Grin

My particularly hateful ones are...

"Appreciate your steer on this one."
"It's on my radar."
"We need some lateral thinking on this one."
"Can we jump on a tel-con?"

OTheHugeManatee · 07/01/2011 21:09

But won't someone pleeeease tell me what happens when you stretch, walk, leash or otherwise interact with the monkey?

Rollergirl1 · 07/01/2011 21:11

sugarmouse: Heh, hilarious. I bet in every given situation they said "feedback, I mean feedforwards" and then it was abandoned as too troublesome the day after you left!

Vanilla is a good one too, although not limited to geek speak.

GrizzlyMacDuff · 07/01/2011 21:14

signposting/brokering = giving a client a telephone number.

wukter · 07/01/2011 21:16

DH's environment is pretty corpowanky and he has explained Stretching the Monkey. Well, up to a point. If someone has a problem, they have a Monkey On Their Back. To help them, you must not simply remove the monkey, but empower them to remove it themselves. This is where DH's explanation breaks down because at this point the problem appears to be solved by stretching it Confused

elsiemarley · 07/01/2011 21:16

Does this help TheHuge?

GrizzlyMacDuff · 07/01/2011 21:18

might have been mentioned already here, but I play wanker bingo at work sometimes in meetings, occasionally with colleagues, mostly on my own.

A little checklist of wanker speak that you anticipate being said, and cross it off, first to a full house wins 'bingo' (do you dare to say it aloud?!) and wins a prize, or closest to winning. Prize is normally a chocolate bar from sandwich man Grin. It makes me less likely to poke my eyes out with matchsticks.

OTheHugeManatee · 07/01/2011 21:18

Link didn't work Sad

TamsinConstable · 07/01/2011 21:18

Oh, people, this is priceless. I blog about Plain English/clear business writing and this thread has made my day, especially those of you who are slipping made-up claptrap into meetings, I'm snorting out loud. And as for crunchy and granular, well I'll never be able to eat Jordan's Cereal in peace again. Fun aside, it's the damage that weasel-speak does to democracy, access, transparency and accountability that me. But the only real way to stop the corporate drivel is to point out the hidden costs of claptrap; it's a very, very expensive bad habit. If they've got any 'bandwidth' they should 'go off-line' for a bit and 'run that thought up the flagpole'.

OTheHugeManatee · 07/01/2011 21:20

Oh, I think I see. Sort of.

But of you stretch the monkey, might you not risk it just being able to be on several backs at once?

See? That was profound. I should be a management consultant, me. Grin

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