The Old New Thing

Microspeak - The Old New Thing

Management-speak: Upping the sats and stimulating the ecosystem

June 16, 2009 Jun 16, 2009 06/16/09
Raymond Chen
Here's another sentence that's so loaded with buzzwords and buzzphrases I'm not sure what language it's written in. I just want to have creative control over how my audience can interact with me without resorting to complex hacking in a way that is easy to explain but ups our blogging audiences sats to a new level that may also stimulate a ...

Microspeak: T-shirt sizing

May 12, 2009 May 12, 2009 05/12/09
Raymond Chen
Larry Osterman discussed the buzzword T-shirt sizing, which means "making extremely rough estimates in terms of a small number of predefined categories." The term comes from the traditional way T-shirt sizes are specified in the United States. Instead of having T-shirts in sizes 4, 5, 6 and so on, there are only a small number of sizes: Small...

Microspeak: The plate

April 14, 2009 Apr 14, 2009 04/14/09
Raymond Chen
To have a lot on one's plate means to have a lot of tasks and responsibilities. We shouldn't give this task to Bob. He already has a lot on his plate. (Or: He already has a full plate.) At Microsoft, this common English language idiom is treated as a normal part of the language. The metaphorical plate has become a synonym for assigned ...

Microspeak: Year-over-year

March 4, 2009 Mar 4, 2009 03/4/09
Raymond Chen
In economics, the attributive adjective year-over-year means compared to the same time last year. Examples: "Year-over-year sales show a marked improvement." "Expenses continue to fall year over year." (The hyphens disappear when the adjective is used predicatively.) I have only one citation, but it appears that the term has broadened its ...

Microspeak: Recommends (noun)

February 3, 2009 Feb 3, 2009 02/3/09
Raymond Chen
I have only one citation, but the usage is so egregious to me that one citation is all I need. I'm looking for XYZ recommends. My requirements are... Why write recommendations when you can shorten it to recommends and sound buzzwordier at the same time...

Microspeak: Learnings

January 6, 2009 Jan 6, 2009 01/6/09
Raymond Chen
If things you teach are teachings, then things you learn must be learnings, right? Good Microspeak citations for this word are hard to find since the word is rarely used in a sentence; it's just a heading in a slide presentation. I found dozens of presentations that had a slide titled Learnings from XYZ, or, for those who want to sound really ...

Microspeak: Suited and booted

December 16, 2008 Dec 16, 2008 12/16/08
Raymond Chen
At Microsoft's consulting divisions, customer visits are a part of the job. A shorthand has developed to describe how formally dressed you should be at the meeting with the customer. (I leave it as an exercise to develop the comparable attire for women.) Note: This Microspeak entry was submitted by a colleague from the UK, so it may be...

Microspeak: Represent

November 5, 2008 Nov 5, 2008 11/5/08
Raymond Chen
The more conventional definition of represent is along the lines of "to act as a proxy for". An attorney represents his or her client in court. Your legislator represents you in the assembly. A token on a board represents your position in the game. At Microsoft, the word represent takes on a stranger meaning. Here are some usages inspired by...

Microspeak: Teaming

October 7, 2008 Oct 7, 2008 10/7/08
Raymond Chen
At training sessions, you don't participate in team-building exercises. No, that's old-fashioned terminology, the sort of thing those old stodgy Web 1.0 dinosaurs would say. The new word is teaming. Note: This Microspeak entry was submitted by a colleague from the UK, so it may be peculiar to the UK dialect of Microspeak. Pre-emptive...

Microspeak: Space delivery

September 23, 2008 Sep 23, 2008 09/23/08
Raymond Chen
As I noted in an earlier entry of Microspeak, the real estate department here has their own weird jargon. Today's phrase is "delivering space": Listed below is the schedule for delivery of space over the next twelve months. Translation: "Listed below is the schedule for when new office space will become ready for use over the next twelve ...