Weekend Edition: What they say and what they mean
What Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd said:
“H-P has a cost structure that is off benchmark in many areas.” (WSJ 7/15/05)
What he meant.
“Many, many people will soon be fired.”
Analysis:
I have a particular fondness for the way technology executives talk. Maybe it’s to fit in with the engineers or some other logical reason, but whatever it is technology executives love to apply technological terms to general business concepts—sometimes without even realizing that they are doing it. Examples that I’ve personally heard:
“I don’t have the bandwidth for that” which meant “I’m too busy.”
“We can double-click on that” which meant “we can get into more detail” (and yes I did in fact hear this said and yes it was indeed an Apple employee who said it).
“I had a bit-flip” which meant “I forgot.”
And my favorite: “Let’s grep for the ketchup” meaning “Let’s look for the ketchup.” (“Grep” is a UNIX term to find a word or character string in a program).
Hat Tip: Terry T.
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