| What they said | What they meant |
|---|---|
| "You're directionally correct" | You're essentially wrong |
| "That was a good start" | Now start over |
| "I don't disagree" | I disagree, wrapped in a thick, obfuscating blanket of double negativity |
| "I agree with everything you just said" | Except for your most important point, and I will indicate my disagreement through what I say next |
| "Could you repeat that" | I wasn't listening |
| "Could you rephrase the question" | I've been surreptitiously checking social media for the last 20 minutes |
| "That's a fair point" | Now let me make a fairer one |
| "Let's explore the logic on that" | You're wrong, and I’ll need to see ten pages that tell me why I am wrong before I change my mind |
| "Sorry for interrupting" | I wish I had cut you off sooner |
| "That was interesting" | That was a dumb idea, and I am changing the subject |
| "This will be quick" | I have nothing to say, because I'm not prepared |
| "It would be great if you could..." | Do what I'm about to tell you or else |
I’m a management consultant and writer serving organizations both large (Fortune 500) and small (nonprofit) on a range of strategic issues
Business talk decoded
Posted on December 7, 2016
bite of the apple
Posted on November 29, 2016
a discrete chance or opportunity to achieve something, as in “we better polish our sales pitch for tomorrow Phil, I don’t think we’re going to have another bite of the apple”; more than one of these for a given individual is often worth remarking on; similar to the term at-bats,1 a bit of jargon preferred in more sports-oriented environments, and used when the referenced opportunities are somewhat more numerous
- This term may require some familiarity with the sport of baseball to fully appreciate, as the other bat-and-ball game with some global reach, cricket, generally has limited at-bats in a game for a given player, although they can be far longer in duration. ↩
goat rodeo
Posted on November 23, 2016
a folksy and somewhat ridiculous term referring to a chaotic mess, used to put a jocular sheen on what may actually be a rather serious situation; getting one under control may necessitate herding cats, a tangentially-related bit of jargon in that both compare present circumstances to the chaotic and uncontrollable behavior of multiple small and generally feisty animals
boil the ocean
Posted on June 2, 2015
to embark on an apparently impossible, wasteful or fruitless task, usually preceded by an exhortation not to, as in: “Let’s not boil the ocean here, an 80/20 should be enough”; this term suggests that the amount of effort to be expended is not worth the potential payoff; similar to the far more cringe-inducing and unnecessarily baroque mouse milking
ankle-bite
Posted on January 30, 2015
to persistently remind someone or a group about his or her responsibilities in a mildly unpleasant way but without acrimony; evokes the behavior of a small yippy dog that nips at one’s heels annoyingly but is generally harmless, or a sheepdog herding animals; a similar term with more whimsical connotations is tickle, as in “I’ll tickle the group for that feedback tomorrow morning if I haven’t heard from them by then”
mouse milking
Posted on January 20, 2015
to embark on a task for which any potential output is far outweighed by the effort required to generate it, mouse milking is a far more cringe-inducing and unnecessarily baroque version of the more common phrase boil the ocean; users of this term generally assume a certain familiarity with those listening, as in the wrong context one can only imagine the consternation that would follow its injudicious deployment
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