High Falutin' Goofy Talk: II

Many of us are engaged in an unending search for fresh, impactful ways to convey simple ideas. We use phrases, metaphors, and images that we believe few have heard or seen. For maximum impact, we must be the first, or among the first, to use them. But with use, their impact declines, until the phrases become trite. At that point, using them marks the users not as dynamic leaders, but as followers, unaware that the usage is now passé.

Here's Part II of a list of phrases that are no longer fresh. See "High Falutin' Goofy Talk," Point Lookout for November 13, 2002, for Part I.

at the bleeding edge

This is a pun on "leading edge." The leading edge of a field of knowledge is where we would find the latest or most up-to-date set of practices, tools, procedures, and so on. The bleeding edge is ahead of that, and consequently, riskier and perhaps less reliable. The term leading edge is probably a reference to the forward edge of an aircraft wing.

Like most Many common business phrases
seem clever enough to repeat,
but some have been repeated so
often that they aren't worth repeatingmetaphors, this one was powerful once, and even funny at the level of a chuckle. It's now so overused that the funny has worn off.

it is what it is

The meaning of this one is about equivalent to c'est la vie — that's Life, or that's the way it goes — older expressions that have served us well.

Using this more recent form of c'est la vie was advantageous to the user when the new form was fresh. It drew positive attention, and emphasized the user's point. It's no longer fresh. C'est la vie.

to move the needle

This phrase is a metaphor for making a small change, one that just barely registers. The needle in question here is the needle of a meter on the display panel of a measurement instrument, such as a voltmeter, fuel gauge, or VU meter. To "move the needle" is to induce a change in the quantity being measured significant enough to cause the meter's needle to move. One speaks of moving the needle only when the changes are relatively small.

Use of this phrase is increasing, but nevertheless, it's overused. Why not just describe the change as "small but noticeable" or "small but profound?"

game-changer

A game-changer is a new technology, strategy, proposal, team member — new something that alters how a situation will evolve. The term became popular in business in the 1990s, but it was first used in sports in 1982. [Safire 2008]

The term game-changer is no longer fresh — no longer, um, a game-changer in meetings. Try transformative — it's more erudite.

take it off line

This phrase is a suggestion, request, or command to two or more people, usually in a meeting, to please continue their exchange at another time, not in the meeting. It was clever once, when most meetings were face-to-face. The users of the phrase were then able to convey the idea that most of their meetings, unlike the current one, were mediated electronically in one form or another. At the time, it indicated the user's elevated status or importance. Today, though, virtual meetings are common. To "take it off line" is now very often literally correct, and using it conveys no impression of elevated status.

An alternative is asking, simply, "Can you suspend for now and continue after the meeting?"

Space doesn't permit a complete list of all phrases comprising high falutin' goofy talk. Watch for a future installment.   First issue in this series   Top    Next Issue

Is every other day a tense, anxious, angry misery as you watch people around you, who couldn't even think their way through a game of Jacks, win at workplace politics and steal the credit and glory for just about everyone's best work including yours? Read 303 Secrets of Workplace Politics, filled with tips and techniques for succeeding in workplace politics. More info

Footnotes

Your comments are welcome

About Point Lookout

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

This article in its entirety was written by a human being. No machine intelligence was involved in any way.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness:

What Haven't I Told You?

When a project team hits a speed bump, it often learns that it had all the information it needed to avoid the problem, sometimes months in advance of uncovering it. Here's a technique for discovering this kind of knowledge more systematically.

Critical Thinking and Midnight Pizza

When we notice patterns or coincidences, we draw conclusions about things we can't or didn't directly observe. Sometimes the conclusions are right, and sometimes not. When they're not, organizations, careers, and people can suffer. To be right more often, we must master critical thinking.

Assumptions and the Johari Window: II

The roots of both creative and destructive conflict can often be traced to the differing assumptions of the parties to the conflict. Here's Part II of an essay on surfacing these differences using a tool called the Johari window.

Untangling Tangled Threads

In energetic discussions, topics and subtopics get intertwined. The tangles can be frustrating. Here's a collection of techniques for minimizing tangles in complex discussions.

Meeting Troubles: Collaboration

In some meetings, we collaborate not in reaching objectives, but in preventing our doing so. Here are three examples of this pattern.

See also Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness and Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming December 11: White Water Rafting as a Metaphor for Group Development

Tuckman's model of small group development, best known as "Forming-Storming-Norming-Performing," applies better to development of some groups than to others. We can use a metaphor to explore how the model applies to Storming in task-oriented work groups. Available here and by RSS on December 11.

And on December 18: Subgrouping and Conway's Law

When task-oriented work groups address complex tasks, they might form subgroups to address subtasks. The structure of the subgroups and the order in which they form depend on the structure of the group's task and the sequencing of the subtasks. Available here and by RSS on December 18.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenyrWpTxHuyCrjZbUpner@ChacnoFNuSyWlVzCaGfooCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

• Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
• Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
• Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
• Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
• Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
• Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info