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Corporate BS Decoder: A Cheat Sheet for Dealing with Office Jargon
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2 min readNov 26, 2023
After years of working in soul-sucking corporate environments early in my career, I became fluent in office lingo.
Allow me to translate some of the most commonly used phrases and spare you from having to decode the passive-aggressive corporate drivel:
- “Let’s take this offline” — I’m annoyed and don’t want witnesses to see me lose my cool. Let’s argue in private later.
- “I’ll have my people call your people” — I don’t actually intend to follow up but want to seem important.
- “Let’s put a pin in this” — I’m tired of this nonsense and hope you’ll forget we ever discussed it.
- “I’ll circle back” — Don’t hold your breath waiting for me to follow up. I probably won’t.
- “Teamwork makes the dream work” — Please do all the actual work while I take credit.
- “Synergy” — Corporate buzzword with no real meaning. Used to seem smart.
- “Move the needle” — I expect improved results but I can’t provide more resources or support.
- “Think outside the box” — I’m out of ideas but want you to magically innovate.
- “Low-hanging fruit” — Let’s put in minimal effort for the easiest wins.
- “Touch base” — It’s about…