Unemployment lingo

[Jocelyn Limpert]

I have heard RIF, RIF'd used all the time in Washington, D.C., when
referring to federal government employees. I've been hearing it in common
government usage for the past 30 years that I've lived here.

On 3/7/09, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Unemployment lingo
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I'd be careful about terms like "rightsize" and "synergy-related headcount
> reductions." I've never heard this actually used by anyone in industry, but
> they get a lot of play by journalists and others precisely because they're
> too cute by half. I'm sure someone, somewhere has used them in other than a
> tongue-in-cheek context, but I think those usages are vanishingly rare.
>
> Another one that is actually used is "RIF" or "reduction in force," both as
> a noun and verb, as in "I've been riffed." I think it started as a
> government term that infiltrated private industry.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of
> Mark Peters
> Sent: Saturday, March 07, 2009 11:41 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> 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
>
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