New Words Added To The
Dictionary
ASSMOSIS - The process by which some people seem to absorb
success and advancement by kissing up to the boss.
BLAMESTORMING - Sitting around in a group discussing why a
deadline was missed or a project failed and who was responsible.
SEAGULL MANAGER - A manager, who flies in, makes a lot of
noise, craps all over everything, and then leaves.
SALMON DAY - The experience of spending an entire day
swimming upstream only to get screwed and die in the end.
IRRITAINMENT - Entertainment and media spectacles that are
annoying, but you find yourself unable to stop watching them. The O.J. Simpson
trials were a prime example.
CHAINSAW CONSULTANT - An outside expert brought in to reduce
the employee head count, leaving the brass with clean hands.
CAREER LIMITING MOVE (CLM) - Used among microserfs to
describe an ill-advised activity. Trashing your boss while he or she is within
earshot is a serious CLM.
ADMINISPHERE - The rarefied organizational layers beginning
just above the rank and file. Decisions that fall from the adminisphere are
often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed
to solve.
FLIGHT RISK - Used to describe employees who are suspected of
planning to leave the company or department soon.
404 - Someone who's clueless. From the World Wide Web error
message "404-URL Not Found," meaning that the requested web page could not be
located. Used as in: "Don't bother asking him...he's 404 man!"
GENERICA - Features of the American landscape that are
exactly the same no matter where one is, such as fast food joints, strip malls,
subdivision. Used as in: "We were so lost in Generica, that I forgot what city
we were in!"
OHNO-SECOND - That minuscule fraction of time in which you
realize that you've just made a REAL BIG mistake.
PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE - The fine art of whacking the crap
out of an electronic device to get it to work again.
UMFRIEND - A sexual relation of dubious standing or a
concealed intimate relationship, as in, "This is Dylan, my...um...um...friend."
BODY NAZI - Hard-core exercise and weightlifting fanatics who
look down on anyone who doesn't work out obsessively.
CUBE FARM - An office filled with cubicles.
IDEA HAMSTERS - People who always seem to have their idea
generators running.
MOUSE POTATO - The on-line, wired generation's answer to the
couch potato.
PRAIRIE DOGGING - When someone yells or drops something
loudly in a cube farm, and people's heads pop up over the walls to see what's
going on.
SITCOMS - What yuppies turn into when they have children and
one of them stops working to stay home with the kids. Stands for "Single Income,
Two Children, and an Oppressive Mortgage."
STARTER MARRIAGE - A short-lived, first marriage that ends in
divorce with no kids, no property, and no regrets.
STRESS PUPPY - A person who seem's to thrive on being
stressed out and whiny.
SWIPED OUT - An ATM or credit card that has been rendered
useless because the magnetic strip is worn away from extensive use.
ALPHA GEEK - The most knowledgeable, technically proficient
person in an office or work group.
G.O.O.D. JOB - a "Get-Out-Of-Debt" job. A well-paying job
people take in order to pay off their debts, one that they will quit just as
soon as they are solvent again.
YUPPIE FOOD STAMPS - The ubiquitous $20 bills spewed out of
ATM's everywhere. Often used when trying to split the bill after a meal, i.e.,
"We owe $8.00 each, but all anybody's got are yuppie food stamps."