Need to sound more educated…

[Whoopdedoop]

I’ve got a senior CS job, which I can do well, I’m respected, visible regionally and nationally, and generally in a good place.

I am noticing my colleagues, same grade, use words and phrases that sound more high brow - for example I might say let’s look at the details and they would say we need to focus on a granular level. Or I might say we need to think big, and they say we should consider the art of the possible.

It’s not every day or meeting that I need these phrases, but when talking to senior mangers and if I want to be considered for promotion, I think I need to sound more educated.

Does anyone know of any resource I could study, or people I can follow, or courses I could attend, that would help me sound more like them?

Thanks.

I agree.

And do not lift your voice at the end of a sentence so it sounds like a question even though it isn’t a question…

Wanky jargon. Just be yourself and resolutely resist such shit. It all started with the hideous 'reaching out' if you ask me. Twats.

CS is so bad for that. Just stick to plain English - I guarantee most people will be sitting there rolling their eyes at all the circling back and granular detail and ideas being run up the flagpole etc.

Make sure you don't start using myself and yourself all the time when you mean me and you and you'll automatically sound more educated than a lot of them.

This, please stick to plain English!

That’s the reverse of ‘educated’, OP. It’s dimwit corporate bollockspeak.

Yes! This is always a giveaway of the uneducated!

Forget the corporate bullshit-speak, but focus on using vocabulary correctly, as this will be noticed by those who know.

Another one to practice is not using 'less' when it should be 'fewer' (i.e. fewer voters not less voters), and correctly using 'data' as plural (i.e. "these data show that..." not "this data shows that...")

I expect you're fine, but if there's a particular senior manager you admire for their ability to get things done and be clear about their objectives, listen to how they speak and see if you can pick up any useful phrases.

Don’t do it, used to work in admin in pharmaceutical companies and the people who spoke like that were generally the people who had no clue what was going on and got shown up regularly and were known as the people to avoid when you needed things done! Say it as it ACTUALLY is- people appreciate that!!

Thank you so much everyone; I really appreciate all your comments - you have made me feel so much better about how I phrase things.

You are all so right; I don’t know why I didn’t see it - everyone laughs at the people who use those phrases, so why do I want to be one of them?!!

I will take the point about speaking slower though, thank you.

Thanks again - I’ll be sure to loop you back in if I need to

You certainly don’t have to spout corporate garbage , which is what talking about things on a granular level is , to sound educated. Sadly though, in the modern workplace,doing so does seem to help with advancement

You need this book - Wankernomics.

I bought it as a Christmas present for my son who works with some corporate-speak wankers and is very 🙄 about it.

I once met someone in a board meeting who said, with no sense of irony, “the quantum of that delta has been reached”.
Others in the room looked impressed, I hid behind my papers and laughed, firstly because I thought he was joking, and then because he looked so pleased with himself.
In my experience people speak like this to cover up some kind of gap for themselves. It’s definitely not because they are more educated.

if you get the chance to see these guys on stage they are hilarious!! Anyone who works in a big corporate organisation will cry with laughter.

I think those types of phrases make people seem LESS educated!

And use I and me correctly. ‘Me’ is not a bad word.
For example, do not say,

’He gave it to Tom and I’.

but

’He gave it to Tom and Me’.

Do not say,
’I was stood….’
or ‘I was sat..’

Say, ‘I was standing …’
and, ‘I was sitting’

Lay:
The past of to lie down:
‘I lay down’ or ‘I was lying down’
not ‘I laid down.’

To lay:
To place something down or on a surface:
I laid the table.
I laid the the box carefully on its side’

Urg, why would you want to use those corporate word soupy phrases? I'm a senior leader and speak plain English! I also rather like to play bullshit bingo with colleagues over Teams chat when we're all in a call with those types.

Nothing wrong with plain English!

I'm going to see these guys in April. You might be able to pick up some phrases here

https://wankernomics.com/live

No! Simple speak comes from confident and capable people. Also it means people understand what you mean.

Trust mean, you will be more respected for it than those spouting the jargon.

These phrases immediately make me think of contestants on The Apprentice.

They sit there spouting all this nonsense and make themselves sound completely ridiculous and definitely not educated.

Read George Orwell's 'Politics and the English Language' then stop feeling obliged to mimic corporate bullshit.

In my last years of teaching we were told to refer to ourselves as facilitators.
We refused.

Urgh. Good for you! Facilitators . I'm a teacher, not a bloody facilitator. What is the matter with these people?!