The Adventures of Action Item!

Martin Kaminer martin.kaminer at GMAIL.COM
Sun Sep 28 19:20:06 UTC 2014


I just came across a copy of this wonderful poster I'd ordered more
than 15 years ago (still in the mailing tube) and was amazed at how
well it has aged, dialect-wise, especially given the ostensibly
rapidly-changing nature of the subject matter.  Still makes me laugh.
If you haven't seen it you should; it can be viewed here
http://professionalsuperhero.com/ (only a single episode extant
sadly).  Maybe there's something inherently funny about lampooning
business jargon (a la 'The Office') that makes this more evergreen, I
don't know.  Happily I'm no longer required to go to many meetings
where people actually talk like this, so it's possible my frame of
reference is off.  But still there's something either reassuring or
unnerving about the fact that we'll soon mark 20 years of this
particular kind of business babble, I imagine in no small part aided
and abetted by the success of LinkedIn.

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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