4 ms·

Not having everyone on the team be as familiar with English, especially its idioms and figures of speech, is a great reason to avoid using them and stick to (le

Not having everyone on the team be as familiar with English, especially its idioms and figures of speech, is a great reason to avoid using them and stick to (legalistically) simplistic vocabulary. Unfortunately it also makes its usage feel cold and dry which in turn affects the company culture. There have been plenty of times I wanted to use a phrase that was perfect for the situation at hand and all its connotations would have helped provide lots of context “for free” in the discussion, but couldn’t because I wasn’t sure if certain people on the team would understand due to past misunderstandings among the team.

whatshisface 7y ago
>but couldn’t because I wasn’t sure if certain people on the team would understand due to past misunderstandings among the team. If someone doesn't understand an idiom, why can't they ask?
- sdegutis 7y ago
  They might feel self conscious. Or maybe they think they understand it fine even though they’ve misunderstood it. That seems to be what happened to the man who was ostracized for using the perfectly legitimate ”play the straight man” phrase. People don’t always make the best choices and sometimes it’s not immediately obvious why they make terrible ones.
the_af 7y ago
If the meaning you (incorrectly) infer is offensive, you might have a hard time asking... Consider this: what if the person who took offense was gay, was recently harassed at a past workplace, was sensitive about the issue, maybe wasn't a native English speaker, and was told by an older coworker that he would play "the straight man" to his team pitch. And even then, consider that the offended person replied "say what!?" and in turn the older coworker didn't understand the reaction. Talking to people is hard. Maybe funny metaphors shouldn't be used unless you know the other person's sense of humor. By the way "playing the straight man" while listening to another person's technical plan for a feature doesn't really parse for me; it sounds like a clumsy use of a figure of speech. I'd be surprised too by this usage.
- sdegutis 7y ago
  My guess is that he meant "play the devil's advocate" and got it mixed up half way through. That happens to people all the time with metaphors, especially when our minds are hard at work on the actual problem at hand, sometimes ending up pretty funny, like "we'll burn that bridge when we get to it."

whatshisface 7y ago

>but couldn’t because I wasn’t sure if certain people on the team would understand due to past misunderstandings among the team. If someone doesn't understand an idiom, why can't they ask?

sdegutis 7y ago
They might feel self conscious. Or maybe they think they understand it fine even though they’ve misunderstood it. That seems to be what happened to the man who was ostracized for using the perfectly legitimate ”play the straight man” phrase. People don’t always make the best choices and sometimes it’s not immediately obvious why they make terrible ones.

the_af 7y ago

If the meaning you (incorrectly) infer is offensive, you might have a hard time asking... Consider this: what if the person who took offense was gay, was recently harassed at a past workplace, was sensitive about the issue, maybe wasn't a native English speaker, and was told by an older coworker that he would play "the straight man" to his team pitch. And even then, consider that the offended person replied "say what!?" and in turn the older coworker didn't understand the reaction. Talking to people is hard. Maybe funny metaphors shouldn't be used unless you know the other person's sense of humor. By the way "playing the straight man" while listening to another person's technical plan for a feature doesn't really parse for me; it sounds like a clumsy use of a figure of speech. I'd be surprised too by this usage.

sdegutis 7y ago
My guess is that he meant "play the devil's advocate" and got it mixed up half way through. That happens to people all the time with metaphors, especially when our minds are hard at work on the actual problem at hand, sometimes ending up pretty funny, like "we'll burn that bridge when we get to it."