[LINK] Fwd: vip-l: Electoral Commission Seeking Sydney-based people for user testing [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Stilgherrian]

On 5/4/07 1:11 PM, "Howard Lowndes" <lannet at lannet.com.au> wrote:
>> Jan, my respect for you just plummeted for using "space" like that.
> 
> I really do think that that is a very shallow and unnecessary remark.

I understand that this may have looked like a personal attack, but it wasn't
intended to be. Jan, I hope you weren't offended.

More carefully worded...

I've always been impressed with Jan's clarity of expression, so I was very
surprised and somewhat disappointed to see the current management jargon
usage of "space".

Language is important -- its how we think and express ourselves. Sloppy
language can lead to sloppy thinking -- and I particularly despise the way
many corporate managers pepper their conversation with "space" when they
mean "market" or something else.

Sure, it's in the "pet hate" category. But when someone says "We're doing a
lot of work around the VoIP space" instead of "We're doing a lot of work on
VoIP", it tells me they're parroting the current management jargon to appear
up-to-date, rather than actually thinking about what they're saying.

Hence my surprise when I saw it in Jan's writing.

Stil


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