4 ms·

In all honesty, what's wrong with the phrase "work the room"? Is this a phrase that is misapplied to the subject matter? Does this phrase bring up bad connotati

In all honesty, what's wrong with the phrase "work the room"? Is this a phrase that is misapplied to the subject matter? Does this phrase bring up bad connotations? Is this phrase not descriptive enough or too specific for what the person is talking about? As a non-native speaker, "Working the room" seems like a good abbreviation of "how to behave...". Is there another, shorter, more descriptive phrase you were thinking of?

edw519 17y ago
Analyzing, designing, cranking out 8,000 lines of code, testing, and deploying by Tuesday is work. Spending good time with nice people at an event isn't.
- menloparkbum 17y ago
  To be fair to the author, he's writing about networking events, where the whole point of the event is to make connections, not just spend good time with people.
- octane 17y ago
  It's called networking for a reason.
- tdavis 17y ago
  It is work if you're like me and instantly hate most of those people, have no interest in listening to their boring conversations, and would rather be doing anything else ;) "good time" and "nice people" are not phrases I'd use to describe networking events. More important phrases to me are, "free food" and "open bar".
  - edw519 17y ago
    how sad
    - trapper 17y ago
      Are you saying that you like talking to people who you have nothing in common with?
      - eru 17y ago
        It needs some effort to connect, but you can learn from a lot of people. (And even if you just brush up your social skills, that can be helpful.)
nocman 17y ago
For many native English speakers, the phrase "work the room" will have negative connotations. Often that phrase is associated with people who tend to use their relationships with others primarily as a way to benefit themselves alone. Any benefit to the others in the relationship is strictly secondary, often unnecessary, and sometimes even just a tool for the person to further exploit the relationship to their benefit. I don't think it is a coincidence that the phrase is very often applied to politicians. In fact, I would venture to guess that politicians are the group this phrase is applied to the most often. I'm not saying that everyone who "works the room" is a politician, and I'm not saying that all politicians are strictly self-serving individuals (yes, there are some good ones out there). However, there are enough examples of politicians to whom the phrase is applied, that it is often associated with them. There are also enough self-serving individuals to whom the phrase is applied that it helps to give the phrase a negative connotation. And, obviously, there are quite a lot of individuals who have both the "self-serving" and "politician" categories covered.

edw519 17y ago

Analyzing, designing, cranking out 8,000 lines of code, testing, and deploying by Tuesday is work. Spending good time with nice people at an event isn't.

menloparkbum 17y ago
To be fair to the author, he's writing about networking events, where the whole point of the event is to make connections, not just spend good time with people.
octane 17y ago
It's called networking for a reason.
tdavis 17y ago
It is work if you're like me and instantly hate most of those people, have no interest in listening to their boring conversations, and would rather be doing anything else ;) "good time" and "nice people" are not phrases I'd use to describe networking events. More important phrases to me are, "free food" and "open bar".
- edw519 17y ago
  how sad
  - trapper 17y ago
    Are you saying that you like talking to people who you have nothing in common with?
    - eru 17y ago
      It needs some effort to connect, but you can learn from a lot of people. (And even if you just brush up your social skills, that can be helpful.)

nocman 17y ago

For many native English speakers, the phrase "work the room" will have negative connotations. Often that phrase is associated with people who tend to use their relationships with others primarily as a way to benefit themselves alone. Any benefit to the others in the relationship is strictly secondary, often unnecessary, and sometimes even just a tool for the person to further exploit the relationship to their benefit. I don't think it is a coincidence that the phrase is very often applied to politicians. In fact, I would venture to guess that politicians are the group this phrase is applied to the most often. I'm not saying that everyone who "works the room" is a politician, and I'm not saying that all politicians are strictly self-serving individuals (yes, there are some good ones out there). However, there are enough examples of politicians to whom the phrase is applied, that it is often associated with them. There are also enough self-serving individuals to whom the phrase is applied that it helps to give the phrase a negative connotation. And, obviously, there are quite a lot of individuals who have both the "self-serving" and "politician" categories covered.