Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Realization, Capitalization, and other Nominalizations

For those of you who were worried, I have not be wandering around in the Labyrinth of my mind since my last post. (Don't go that way, never go that way.....if she'd gone that way she would have gone straight to the castle) Sorry, you either get the reference or you don't. My younger sis came to visit and then I was sick and now I am still sick and back at work. Yay me!
So yesterday, I am in a meeting with some bigwigs and an outside vendor has come to present to us. There is something about corporate-speak that makes me want to claw out the tongue of the person speaking. (I stand by this as normal behavior, otherwise Office Space and Dilbert wouldn't be so popular).
So after he used the words realization, capitalization, leverage and a couple other -tion words in one sentence I was about to go insane. The nominalization of words doesn't make you sound smarter!!!! As a matter of fact, in strict proper English, nominalizations probably mean that you are now using a passive tense verb since you have now made a noun out of what would have been your active verb. Puh-lease stop!!!
And I heard a new one yesterday. One that I had not heard before but I heard about 20 times in a 45 minute presentation which is why it stuck with me. C-Suite.

Does anybody know what the hell C-Suite means? I'll tell you what it means (as best as I gathered from the context in which it was used). Corporate Suite, upper management, the bigwigs etc. But could he call them that? NO, had to use a term that sounds really cool, like C-Suite....jeez. Give me a break.

4 comments:

  1. I realize that every occupation has it's own vocabulary, but it bugs the SHIT out of me when it's really unnecessary.
    And, in reference to your reference, the little old lady with all the junk?, my mom.

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  2. Poo, I don't get the references. (sniff)

    C-suite is new. I've heard "C-level" before, which is purposefully misleading I think, to make the unsophisticated think of sea-level, which makes my mind jump over to sea-change, which is a phrase I have heard plenty in the last few years and yet still do not really get. Or is it see-change? Or really c-change in fact? Oh geez, that'll do donkey, that'll do.

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  3. I *hate* corporate acronyms. When they are used I just glaze over and think of the scene(s) in Office Space regarding TPS reports.

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  4. Can you think of any good ones for poop? I need to work on my poop vocabulary. That is a direct result of spending the majority of my time with a baby....

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