Still, sometimes it gets to me. So I thought I’d frame a sentence with some phrases that I hear often. Phrases that bemuse me. Sample this -
At the end of the day, to my mind - although I could be completely wrong - I see this particular market as low-hanging fruit.Here's my take on some components of that sentence...
1. "At the end of the day" - When else ? Lunch ? breakfast ? Come to think of it, when does the day end ? Dusk, sunset, midnight ? And do important things happen only at the end of the day ? Does the fat lady sing at that time ?
Sample usage -
“At the end of the day, he’s our client”. Ah, and in the morning he doubles up as Raju serving us tea and coffee. I tell you, it was that comb sticking out of his pocket that did him in.
“At the end of the day, what matters is winning”. Because we can afford to lose at breakfast and lunch but not when we’re stuffing ourselves with vada pav at sunset.
“At the end of the day, it’s really all in your head” – oh yes and at other times it’s in my pants. Smack that.
2. "To my mind" – no, seriously. And all this time you had me going with that Jedi Mind-Reading trick of yours.
So, let me get this right…till now you were really talking about the secret desires of the receptionist ? or the hidden passions of the VP(Strategy) ? or the never-expressed feelings of that new trainee sitting in the corner of the room too scared to voice his thoughts ? And at the end of the day, you're finally talking your mind. Hallelujah.
I mean what if every hero in every climax of a movie with a time bomb goes “To my mind, it’s the green wire” before cutting it ?
Whose mind is it anyway ?
3. "I could be completely wrong" - oh come on, Einstein. You've ended the day, you've told us what's on your mind and now you're telling us there's actually a chance that you could be wrong ? Oh you modest, unassuming, shy, gallant man, you. How could you be wrong ? I mean, its us dunces who struggle to end the day, who can't read other people minds. Its us doofuses at the table who’d be wrong about this. Not you.
Come to think of it, what if the above hero in the time-bomb climax goes "To my mind, it’s the green wire, but hey, I could be wrong about this". Yes Virginia, there's a bomb on the bus.
4. "low-hanging fruit" – Full of possibilities and ripe for the picking, but I think this is enough for now.
So, do you have any other phrases that pain you ?
PS - Regular posting on hold for some time, as this legal alien heads towards Delhi.
16 comments:
Oh this post really strikes a chord. I also really like the name of your blog- mumbai matters and the effort you put in the research to provide information and useful facts. This is just a general feedback on your blog as I could not find your name or email.
@BA,
Looks like soemone is really frustrated with these new age MBA's :D
Cheers,
HP
hey good one BA, lets see I have a few of my own faves.....
1) I think, according to me....who cares and gives 2 hoots about what u think yeah !
2)To put it in plain english.....yeah we were talking french weren't we all
3) This is just plain vanilla...when did vanilla stop being a flavor and beome plain Jane n all.
BTW whats with the legal alienation n all. loved it man! the lyrics were me.
gracias u made my day !
Heh heh. My pick would be:
You do not have to re-invent the wheel.
Yeah right!
Hey, thanks everyone for your comments.
Deepa - Thanks so much for the visit and the feedback. The research behind MM is in fact an effort, and when I read a comment like yours, it does make it worthwhile. :)
HP - Arre yaar, I have no panga with MBAs man. The logic for my reference was only because I thought that business jargon is typically associated with B-School grads !
AIC - Lol ! lovely examples ! And that song is really something isn't it ? Gracias, you made my day as well !
Kusum - Yeah right indeed to that !
Great post!! Like your take on it :-)
My two cents worth - it is not just the B-school grads who are fond of such jargon and "three letter acronyms" - hard-core techies in my company use some lingo too often, and the "most abused" phrase is -
"my two cents worth"
:-D
so that pic (somewhere in the suburbs of Mumbai lol)was is it you in the kurta ?? jus wonderin'....lets see if this chickitees guess is good for anything yeah !
Sigma - thanks for the visit and the comment. Nice observation, I wonder where your techie friends picked up the jargon from !
AIC - I don't wear kurtas ! Lol..
Aww shucks....jus' when u think u have it. Neewyas cant say I dint try !
BTW AIC seems so prudent and like an insurance company or somethin ya. Can Red bribe you anyways (okay hold that thot..not anyway anyway ok now read on), you to call her Red.
signed (not an AIC)u can call me Red
That sounds much better..Red ! good to meet you !
ba,
where's the business jargon in the quoted text... and what makes you think a non-mba wouldn't speak like that?
Kuffir - Thanks for the visit. Good point. When I read your comment, I thought that this rant came out more on those phrases in particular than "business jargon" in general. Yet, I figured that since the term "business jargon" would be an inclusive, rather than an exclusive one, I'd push these in. :) I've really heard them so many times in my workplace (and on the TV channels that survive on my workplace's business), that I thought they qualify as "business jargon". And heck, I've heard only non-MBA's use it..which makes me admire how effective the MBAs must be. :) Btw - do you have any terms used in business (emphasis mine and in jest) that you are sick of ? Would love to know.
BA, beauty :) ah the sarcasm...i could really screw some ppl arnd with this stuff..especially the vada pav one :)
I can't think of many, but recently every team of like 5 ppl call themselves the world like Production support world, Night time support world.
BVN - Thanks for the comment and glad to be of help. :)
And man, I can't figure out why a 5-member team would start calling themselves "world" ! That's just hilarious !
Haha reading this just reminded me of all the "Bakshi-isms" in Chetan Bhagat's 'One night @ the Call Center'.
Down with MBAs, I say!
Sughosh - Sorry dude, I've not read that book. Thanks for the visit..
Post a Comment