B2 – Upper Intermediate
In the modern world of the workplace, corporate jargons such as “ICE”, “ping”, “circle back”, and “double click” abound.
Employees, despite being overwhelmed with such business lexicon, just resort to adopting it and using them in their day-to-day correspondences at work.
Read the article about workers capitulating to this word salad of corporate jargon.
Vocabulary Questions:
- What does “boots on the ground” mean? “The sales team has boots on the ground. They visit customers directly, attend trade shows, or be present at industry events to build relationships.” Use the expression in a sentence. Give a synonym.
- What does “to double click on something” mean here: “We need to double-click on the data to understand the root cause”? Use the phrase in a sentence. Give a synonym.
- What does “to run something up the flagpole” mean here: “The company first ran the idea up the flagpole last year.”? Use the idiom in a sentence. Give a synonym.
Discussion Questions:
- What is the importance of corporate jargon?
- What are all the things wrong with it?
- What are your thoughts on all this work parlance these days? Do you think they are necessary? Explain.
- Share your insights on this: But as employees have come to understand office jargon, and even rely on it, Cooper cautions companies use these words to make processes opaque.
- Express your opinion on this: Cooper and Brown agree the popularity of corporate jargon has a fairly simple explanation: the desire for status in the workplace, or “human peacocking”.
- Cite at least three (3) industry-specific shorthands you use in your line of work and explain what they stand for and/or what they mean.