5 ms·

English vs. business English. Pre-boarding is just boarding. Pre-booking is just booking. Pre-prefixing everything. Sigh. "Please revert" - you mean 'reply'

English vs. business English. Pre-boarding is just boarding. Pre-booking is just booking. Pre-prefixing everything. Sigh. "Please revert" - you mean 'reply', not 'return to a former state'. "Ping me" - ugh. And my favourite.... "Learnings" - you mean lessons. "What drivings have you been on?" ... "What journeys have you been on?"

dijit 6y ago
“Ping me” really threw me for a loop the first time I heard a non-tech say it in an obvious non-tech way. It literally has no other meaning outside of the ICMP echo utility; and the onomatopoeia of hitting glass. How did it enter the Business world?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- invalidusernam3 6y ago
  Not that it answers your question, but here is a fairly interesting article on "ping me": https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/01/history-of-ping-a-warlike-word-used-by-business-people-trying-to-be-cute.html https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/01/history-of-ping-a-w...
- xboxnolifes 6y ago
  I'm confused here. I thought what I thought of as "ping me" was obvious, but since you didn't state what I'm thinking of I guess not. Are we talking about slack/discord/teams pings here? If so the use is the onomatopoeia.
- criddell 6y ago
  > It literally has no other meaning outside of the ICMP echo utility What about in the context of a sonar system on a submarine? My first encounter of the term was probably The Hunt for Red October.
- jariel 6y ago
  Ping comes from submarine sonar - not the networking world. Everyone of a certain age will have seen a half dozen submarine WW2 or Cold War films so regular people do have context. And there's nothing wrong with it. 'Learnings' is an odd word but it actually makes sense because there are no perfect substitutes. 'Insights' isn't quite it.
  - quietbritishjim 6y ago
    A possible alternative to "learning" is "lesson". The problem with "lesson" is that it can have two meanings: (a) a formal lecture given by a qualified person to a class; (b) a fact that you learned from any person or even just a situation you were in. "Lesson" in the sense (b) is a direct substitute for "a learning", but I have to admit a few people might sometimes interpret it as (a) and be confused. But it depends on the context - if a project report has a "lessons learnt" heading I don't think any reader is going to expect that means meaning (a).
    - jariel 6y ago
      Yeah - 'lessons learned' is idiomatically more tantamount to something 'learned after having made an error'. I'll bet there are words in other languages that more perfectly capture the meaning of 'learnings' - and admittedly it's a really ugly colloquialism ... but I would accept it out of a resigned pragmatism.
  - pclmulqdq 6y ago
    I think the word 'learnings' comes to software companies from India. A company I worked at didn't use the word until an Indian senior manager came on, and then everyone started talking about 'learnings.' Conversely, I have heard it used in conversational English between people from India. There are plenty of other English words that work in context where you might use 'learning', like 'lesson', 'insight', or 'takeaway'. 'Learning' just encapsulates them all without nuance.
- mrmonkeyman 6y ago
  Blackberry.
hestefisk 6y ago
How about “decisioning”?
rvba 6y ago
I thought that "pre-booking" means that you input all the available data related to a document into some computer system, but you do not finalize & accept the document yet -> so some of the data can still be changed in the future without consequence (for example: when some issue is explained with a supplier). Pre-booking is the initial step before a complete booking.
- DrBazza 6y ago
  Agreed. Except when it isn't :) Ticket agencies use 'pre-booking' to book the first tiny tranche of tickets. And HR departments seem to love 'pre-authorization' to get... authorization for holidays, or purchasing, and so on.
  - lexicality 6y ago
    That's not entirely unreasonable, pre in this case trying to make explicit "ask me about this well ahead of time". eg you can make on the day bookings or call up HR to say you've got dave from forklifts incorporated on the phone and you need the company card immediately.
string 6y ago
"Sense check" is one that infuriates me. Just say "check". Every place I've worked with managers that speak like this has invariably produced crap.
sharmi 6y ago
Dunno, Ping me felt quite natural to me. It feels like a handy substitute for when there are multiple options for one person to contact another and person one does not care how he is contacted. As opposed to very formal communications that stick to email or mail. Ping me => email/call/slack/whatsapp/zulip/telegram/meet-in-person me
- aembleton 6y ago
  Wouldn't `contact me` do?
  - smichel17 6y ago
    It lacks some connotation. "Remind me" comes closer. "Get my attention" probably captures it, but "ping me" is much shorter.
whack 6y ago
The definition of "revert" has evolved, and even dictionaries are starting to acknowledge its alternative meaning as "reply". See: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/magazine/06FOB-onlanguage-t.html https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/magazine/06FOB-onlanguage... I personally love "ping me". It's even shorter and more punchy, compared to "message me". Language evolves. Shakespeare would find our English today bewildering. Instead of complaining about it, I find it most helpful to keep up with the latest lingo, and focus instead on conveying my message most clearly.
- DrBazza 6y ago
  Not sure why you've been downvoted. You're 100% correct. Language evolves. And old duffers like me, don't.
noname120 6y ago
You might like this George Carlin stand-up show: https://youtu.be/6IC_It9DwDA?t=82 https://youtu.be/6IC_It9DwDA?t=82
- DrBazza 6y ago
  Nice. Surprised I hadn't seen that.
zeveb 6y ago
I don't mind 'ping me': that one has a clear reference to submarines and networks. What bothers me are 'ask' and 'lift' used as nouns. They add nothing to the language, and are just ugly. Maybe my father felt the same the first time he heard 'sweet' to mean 'cool.'
rswail 6y ago
"We should socialize the learnings from this discussion." Is close to a real sentence pronounced upon us from a management type during one of their endless Zoom meetings. Someone sent in a semi-private chat shared by some of us, "They meant, we should share what we've learned."
- rpastuszak 6y ago
  > "We should socialize the learnings from this discussion." I feel like we worked for the same company. Last time I heard this exact phrase I was participating in a meeting where one of the agenda points was feedback from a meeting about meetings. Result: we scheduled another meeting. Important question: did we deliver value?
jgwil2 6y ago
"Ask" as a noun - "What is the ask?" "Build out" instead of just build. "Actionable" - although it is a real word, it is a legal term, not a synonym of practical.

dijit 6y ago

“Ping me” really threw me for a loop the first time I heard a non-tech say it in an obvious non-tech way. It literally has no other meaning outside of the ICMP echo utility; and the onomatopoeia of hitting glass. How did it enter the Business world?

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
invalidusernam3 6y ago
Not that it answers your question, but here is a fairly interesting article on "ping me": https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/01/history-of-ping-a-warlike-word-used-by-business-people-trying-to-be-cute.html https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/01/history-of-ping-a-w...
xboxnolifes 6y ago
I'm confused here. I thought what I thought of as "ping me" was obvious, but since you didn't state what I'm thinking of I guess not. Are we talking about slack/discord/teams pings here? If so the use is the onomatopoeia.
criddell 6y ago
> It literally has no other meaning outside of the ICMP echo utility What about in the context of a sonar system on a submarine? My first encounter of the term was probably The Hunt for Red October.
jariel 6y ago
Ping comes from submarine sonar - not the networking world. Everyone of a certain age will have seen a half dozen submarine WW2 or Cold War films so regular people do have context. And there's nothing wrong with it. 'Learnings' is an odd word but it actually makes sense because there are no perfect substitutes. 'Insights' isn't quite it.
- quietbritishjim 6y ago
  A possible alternative to "learning" is "lesson". The problem with "lesson" is that it can have two meanings: (a) a formal lecture given by a qualified person to a class; (b) a fact that you learned from any person or even just a situation you were in. "Lesson" in the sense (b) is a direct substitute for "a learning", but I have to admit a few people might sometimes interpret it as (a) and be confused. But it depends on the context - if a project report has a "lessons learnt" heading I don't think any reader is going to expect that means meaning (a).
  - jariel 6y ago
    Yeah - 'lessons learned' is idiomatically more tantamount to something 'learned after having made an error'. I'll bet there are words in other languages that more perfectly capture the meaning of 'learnings' - and admittedly it's a really ugly colloquialism ... but I would accept it out of a resigned pragmatism.
- pclmulqdq 6y ago
  I think the word 'learnings' comes to software companies from India. A company I worked at didn't use the word until an Indian senior manager came on, and then everyone started talking about 'learnings.' Conversely, I have heard it used in conversational English between people from India. There are plenty of other English words that work in context where you might use 'learning', like 'lesson', 'insight', or 'takeaway'. 'Learning' just encapsulates them all without nuance.
mrmonkeyman 6y ago
Blackberry.

hestefisk 6y ago

How about “decisioning”?

rvba 6y ago

I thought that "pre-booking" means that you input all the available data related to a document into some computer system, but you do not finalize & accept the document yet -> so some of the data can still be changed in the future without consequence (for example: when some issue is explained with a supplier). Pre-booking is the initial step before a complete booking.

DrBazza 6y ago
Agreed. Except when it isn't :) Ticket agencies use 'pre-booking' to book the first tiny tranche of tickets. And HR departments seem to love 'pre-authorization' to get... authorization for holidays, or purchasing, and so on.
- lexicality 6y ago
  That's not entirely unreasonable, pre in this case trying to make explicit "ask me about this well ahead of time". eg you can make on the day bookings or call up HR to say you've got dave from forklifts incorporated on the phone and you need the company card immediately.

string 6y ago

"Sense check" is one that infuriates me. Just say "check". Every place I've worked with managers that speak like this has invariably produced crap.

sharmi 6y ago

Dunno, Ping me felt quite natural to me. It feels like a handy substitute for when there are multiple options for one person to contact another and person one does not care how he is contacted. As opposed to very formal communications that stick to email or mail. Ping me => email/call/slack/whatsapp/zulip/telegram/meet-in-person me

aembleton 6y ago
Wouldn't `contact me` do?
- smichel17 6y ago
  It lacks some connotation. "Remind me" comes closer. "Get my attention" probably captures it, but "ping me" is much shorter.

whack 6y ago

The definition of "revert" has evolved, and even dictionaries are starting to acknowledge its alternative meaning as "reply". See: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/magazine/06FOB-onlanguage-t.html https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/magazine/06FOB-onlanguage... I personally love "ping me". It's even shorter and more punchy, compared to "message me". Language evolves. Shakespeare would find our English today bewildering. Instead of complaining about it, I find it most helpful to keep up with the latest lingo, and focus instead on conveying my message most clearly.

DrBazza 6y ago
Not sure why you've been downvoted. You're 100% correct. Language evolves. And old duffers like me, don't.

noname120 6y ago

You might like this George Carlin stand-up show: https://youtu.be/6IC_It9DwDA?t=82 https://youtu.be/6IC_It9DwDA?t=82

DrBazza 6y ago
Nice. Surprised I hadn't seen that.

zeveb 6y ago

I don't mind 'ping me': that one has a clear reference to submarines and networks. What bothers me are 'ask' and 'lift' used as nouns. They add nothing to the language, and are just ugly. Maybe my father felt the same the first time he heard 'sweet' to mean 'cool.'

rswail 6y ago

"We should socialize the learnings from this discussion." Is close to a real sentence pronounced upon us from a management type during one of their endless Zoom meetings. Someone sent in a semi-private chat shared by some of us, "They meant, we should share what we've learned."

rpastuszak 6y ago
> "We should socialize the learnings from this discussion." I feel like we worked for the same company. Last time I heard this exact phrase I was participating in a meeting where one of the agenda points was feedback from a meeting about meetings. Result: we scheduled another meeting. Important question: did we deliver value?

jgwil2 6y ago

"Ask" as a noun - "What is the ask?" "Build out" instead of just build. "Actionable" - although it is a real word, it is a legal term, not a synonym of practical.