Unemployment lingo (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

I'm a federal govt employee.  Occasionally I hear the word pronounced as
"rifted" (two syllables).

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Jocelyn Limpert
> Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2009 1:12 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Unemployment lingo
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
---------------
> --------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jocelyn Limpert <jocelyn.limpert at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Unemployment lingo
>
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> --------
>
> 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
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: Unemployment lingo
> >
> >
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> ----------
> >
> > 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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> >
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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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