If you’re learning English to help you get a good job with a company in a country like the US or the UK, just make sure you’re prepared. You might have to get used to an entirely new language, too – a language that’s only ever spoken inside offices and meeting rooms. A language called “jargon”.
We’re joking, of course. “Jargon” isn’t really a different language. It’s a name given to technical or business words and phrases that you would never use in normal speech. It also refers to the strange-sounding idioms that sound silly to most English speakers, but that some managers seem to think make them seem really smart and professional.
Here are five of the worst examples of corporate jargon that you might be unlucky enough to hear.
Blue Sky Thinking
If someone is saying this in a meeting, it means that they are open to any creative or unusual; ideas. It is supposed to suggest a big, open blue sky where anything is possible. Unfortunately, if you say it to an English speaking person, they’re more likely to turn pink trying not to laugh.
Let’s Run it Up the Flagpole and See Who Salutes it
This is one of the most ridiculous things you are ever likely to hear a manager say – and luckily, it’s not as popular. It literally means raising a flag so see if anyone treats it with respect, the way many people might do with their country’s flag. In this context, it means suggesting an idea you’re not sure is any good just to test whether anyone gets excited about it.
Can We Circle Back a Moment…
People say this to bring the conversation back to a point they had been talking about earlier. It’s not as terrible as the two above, but “circle back” isn’t a phrase anyone would ever use normally and it sounds awkward to English ears. Normally, you would just say “go back” or maybe “jump back”.
Peel Back the Onion
Just as you might peel off all the outer layers of an onion to get to the middle, this means trying to get past the outer surface of a problem or an idea to reach what’s underneath. And just like a real onion, using this phrase around normal (non-Jargon-speaking) people might make them want to cry…
I Don’t Have Enough Bandwidth
In English, the word “pretentious” means acting or speaking in a way that seems unnatural, as if you’re putting on an act or you think you’re more important than you actually are. If you ever want to sound pretentious yourself, say something like “I don’t have enough bandwidth to get this done right now”.
Bandwidth usually refers to how much data your internet connection lets you upload or download at a time. If someone says they “don’t have enough bandwidth” about themselves, it means they have too much to think about or do already and can’t cope with any more information, or take on any more work. It also means they’re probably not the kind of person you want to get stuck sitting next to at lunch.
Heard any strange-sounding phrases at work and want to know what they mean? Let us know in the comments section below!
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