Unemployment lingo

[Bill Palmer]

"Involuntarily leisured"


----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Peters" <markpeters33 at YAHOO.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, March 07, 2009 2:41 PM
Subject: Unemployment lingo


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Mark Peters <markpeters33 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Unemployment lingo
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I'm doing a column on the many words and phrases for firing people: let
> go, downsize, rightsize, shitcan, sack, discard, terminate, pink slip,
> show
> the door, etc.
>
> There are two things I'd like to sip (siphon?) from the collective pool of
> wisdom:
>
> 1) What other words fit in this category? I have some recent ones like
> getting
> fit and synergy-related headcount reductions, but there must be
> more.
>
> 2) Any info on the history of shitcan? The OED doesn't have it, and HDAS
> doesn't go that far...
>
> Thanks!
>
> Mark
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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