Cunning Linguists

[digitaldiscipline]

[I blame deviathan for helping incite this post.]

So, the training session this morning was not as tedious as originally feared. I stood up in front of seven or eight supervisors and a regional manager and went over what's required of them as far as tracking the online training behavior and performance of their team members. They were animated, asked some good questions, and took notes.

The RM is, in my experience, a pretty personable woman. Sure, I exposed her for having essentially ignored my entire department's output since the first of the year ("Hey, this is really cool!" "That came out before I left for vacation. . . "), but I'm perfectly content to let people look ill-informed and dopey as far as semi-trivial training content wafting around the workplace. What floored me is the fact that she admitted that she has to pull out a dictionary or thesaurus when I send an email.

I know I need to dumb down my vocabulary for the (I hope) HS graduates populating the call floor for simplicity and clarity; the notion that someone in, essentially, middle management (upper middle, if I had to be more specific, at least inside the hierarchy of my facility) is vexed by my usual wibbling astonished me.

*scans Sent folder from yesterday for Scrabble candidates*
- Anectdotal
- Disseminate
- Verbiage
- Simultaneously
- Draconian
- Scant
- Convey
- Push-Back / Blow-Back (admittedly, this is flagrant manager-ese, but it was new to everyone in the meeting when I used it *blink*)
- Telltale

"Well, I'm good for the vocabulary. Besides, I wasn't hired for my stunning good looks or abundant charm."

Comments

[the-yellow-king.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that were I the person being told that, I would start twitching again.
It is amazing to me how some middle-management, good-natured or no, continues to function.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

you see how i can turn the schmooze-charm machine on. besides, i'd rather be buddy-buddy with them, because it makes telling them what they're going to do when i ask that much easier.

but you bet i'm not going to use all small words when i do it. ;-)

[inlaterdays.livejournal.com]

that's truly dismaying.

[angel-renewed.livejournal.com]

You were hired to insulate me from Cat and Shaky :-)

[etcet.livejournal.com]

neither of which requires good looks or charm. i'm just a meatshield.