Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Just occurred to me

The use of ludicrous corporate-speak in the workplace might function for some people as a sort of magical means of separating work-life from real-life. Saying, as I just overheard someone say, "What's your estimation of their receptivity?" might serve as a ritual reinforcement of I-am-at-work, where the more human "Do you think they'll like you/be interested?" would tear down the boundaries between work and life and create a harmful rift.
 
I don't know if anyone actually uses it this way, consciously or unconsciously, and if anyone does, I don't know how many do. Nor do I know how effective it is. But thinking of it this way makes me less inclined to hate it. Anything that helps remind us that our time of being exploited is or at least can be separate from our time of being what we want is a positive thing.

4 comments:

almostinfamous said...

well if you cant use fancy, empty, confusing words to degrade your fellow humans while pretending to climb up the down escalator that is corporate hierarchy, then what the fuck is a 2-year(and expen$$$ive) MBA for?

(PS: thanks for the link in the blogroll!)

Justin said...

Ethan, this article looks like something that fits within some of the narrative here.

Unknown said...

As another example of almost psychotically immoral victim-blaming by the economic elite? Yeah, I guess it does. Americans must create their own jobs, and it's your own fault if you're unemployed! What an absolute shitstain.

Ethan said...

Somtimes I read articles that are so completely off-base, so far from approaching any kind of actual sense, that I can't even define them as "right" or "wrong" because they lie on a completely unrelated axis. Actually I read articles like that pretty frequently. But that one is a remarkable example of the genre.

almostinfamous--Yeah, that is the primary use of that kind of language. But if others can claim it and get any use out of it at all, I'll consider it a win.