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One thing I have learnt since joining Google: everyone inside Google is always infernally busy. I'm British, so my concepts of bothering people, being a nuisan
by jlees 16y ago
One thing I have learnt since joining Google: everyone inside Google is always infernally busy.
I'm British, so my concepts of bothering people, being a nuisance, and being impolite are already vastly out of skew with the American work culture -- I've had to relearn a lot of that behaviour since coming to the USA and Google.
IMO it's not really specifically a Google thing. I think the lesson to be learned from this post (and as a founder, I'm wincing along with you jayro) is simple: when dealing with a big company, keep yourself in the radar or you'll vanish altogether.
But please don't be too crazy or in your face. I administered Summer of Code for our open source project this year, and one very keen applicant kept IMing me for status updates. Unfortunately, he was based in India, and so this meant my phone buzzing at 3am. Suffice it to say (and for mostly unrelated reasons), he didn't get accepted.
Be sensitive, be fresh, be relevant, be interesting.
- ryanwaggoner 16y agoSuffice it to say (and for mostly unrelated reasons), he didn't get accepted. Maybe it's more of an American idiom, but usually when we say "suffice it to say", we mean it was for related reasons :)
- epo 16y agoJust like the American "could care less" is the same as the British "couldn't care less". Two nations divided by a common language as someone is supposed to have said.
- theturtle32 16y ago"could care less" is actually wrong -- it literally means that you do actually care about the thing in question.
- xenophanes 16y agoBeing wrong doesn't stop people using it. They could care less if it's wrong ;p
- amadiver 16y agoThe common use of "nonplussed" means exactly the opposite of the intended meaning. It may be wrong, but it's generally understandable in context. I'd argue "could care less" works the same way.
- rapind 16y agoYou're not wrong. It's totally understandable within context. Bill: "Hey Ted, check out my fancy landing / lead acquisition page for a product that doesn't exist yet". Ted: "I could care less" Bill: "Hold up a minute there chief. Are you saying that you do care? I'm so confused..."
- danwolff 16y agoYou are correct, of course. It is so frustrating that I've justified it for the incorrect as a shortening of: I could (exhibit that I) care less (because I do care less than I currently exhibit). Or, as a matter of giving the benefit of the doubt: I could (exhibit that I) care less (because I am, through effort, caring more right now than I would naturally).
- rapind 16y agoHow about, "I care so little that I can't even be bothered to properly pronounce that I couldn't care less." or "I could care less" is actually sarcasm which implicates that caring is obviously unlikely. Both statements display a stronger degree of uncaring than "I couldn't care less" which is actually a pretty boring and to the point statement. Therefore I find "I could care less" to be the clear winner to indicate how little I actually care. In summary, "I could care less".
- afterburner 16y agoDevil's advocate: "I care very very little right now, but if you keep bugging me about it, I could care less, if you like." or: "I care very very little right now, but there's nothing holding me back from caring even less than that."
- burgerbrain 16y agoA better example of phrases that mean different things on either side of the Atlantic is what it means to "table" a proposal. In the US it means "kill it", but in the UK it means "bring it up". If an American says "could care less", they're just being incorrect. ;) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_%28verb%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_%28verb%29
- ma2rten 16y agoGetting pissed is also a good example, imo
- corin_ 16y agoIn England that can mean either way, depends entirely on context.
- brc 16y agoOnly because of the importation of the American version via movies/tv. A pissed american will hit you. A pissed englishman will fall over. Edit : the correct English term is 'pissed off'. As in 'he pissed me off by going to the pub and getting pissed'.
- willmacdonald 16y agoMy favourite phrase which has radically different meanings for Brits and Americans is "I'm going outside to smoke a fag."
- davedevelopment 16y agoIt's not uncommon to hear "Can I bum a fag?", which translates to "Please could I have one of your cigarettes?"
- mturmon 16y ago"could care less" is a shortening of "could not care less", and the latter phrase is correct. the words themselves don't mean anything any more, it's a stock phrase. i think the sentiment is, "I care so little that I don't even want to use all the words needed to say how little I care".
- icey 16y agoI'm not sure what you're referring to; I don't know anybody that uses "could care less".
- epo 16y agoReally? I seem to see it a lot, a regional idiom perhaps? However, the "table" example is much better.
- icey 16y agoIt could be a regional idiom, like "ain't" or "y'all". I'm in the southwest, it seems like people mostly use "news english".
- zach 16y agoI would love that to be the case, but that idiom pops up all the time in my parts (LA area). Most recently it showed up in the dialogue for Disney's Tangled and not even in a self-aware way. Ugh.
- StavrosK 16y agoEverything I read seems to have it that way. It makes no sense, it confuses and infuriates me.
- geekfactor 16y agoAt the very least, you just said it. If this counts as "saying." Jeesh.
- jlees 16y agoI was using it more in the sense of "Long story short". I suppose I would usually use it to make a related/contiguous point, but I didn't want to imply that I rejected the application purely because he had woken me up at 3am (which was partly my own fault anyway for forgetting to flip silent mode).
- civilian 16y agoYou have a good point- but I really don't agree with your IM/phone etiquette. If you don't want to be woken up at 3am, then have your phone on alarm-only or don't have the IM go to your phone.
- jlees 16y agoOh yes, it was partly my fault for leaving my phone on non-silent mode, but that doesn't sound half as good in a story.