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Corporate jargon decoded

Corporate English is its own dialect. It exists partly to describe genuinely-needed concepts (action item, blocker, scope creep) and partly to soften, defer, or sidestep direct communication (let's take this offline, we'll circle back, parking lot this).

This is Slangora's catalogue of corporate and office-speak. Read it as a translation guide between what your manager says and what they probably mean.

The Corporate lexicon · 44 terms

synergy
ˈsɪn.ər.dʒi
💼 Corporate & Work
circle back
ˈsɜː.kəl bæk
💼 Corporate & Work
deep dive
diːp daɪv
💼 Corporate & Work
ping me
pɪŋ miː
💼 Corporate & Work
low-hanging fruit
loʊ ˈhæŋ.ɪŋ fruːt
💼 Corporate & Work
scope creep
skoʊp kriːp
💼 Corporate & Work
actioning
ˈæk.ʃən.ɪŋ
💼 Corporate & Work
align
əˈlaɪn
💼 Corporate & Work
bandwidth
ˈbænd.wɪdθ
💼 Corporate & Work
boil the ocean
bɔɪl ði ˈoʊ.ʃən
💼 Corporate & Work
capacity
kəˈpæs.ɪ.ti
💼 Corporate & Work
career catfishing
kəˈrɪər ˈkæt.fɪʃ.ɪŋ
💼 Corporate & Work
coffee badging
ˈkɒf.i ˈbædʒ.ɪŋ
💼 Corporate & Work
cross-functional
krɒs ˈfʌŋk.ʃən.əl
💼 Corporate & Work
directional
dəˈrek.ʃən.əl
💼 Corporate & Work
dogfood
ˈdɒɡ.fuːd
💼 Corporate & Work
ideation
ˌaɪ.diˈeɪ.ʃən
💼 Corporate & Work
loud quitting
laʊd ˈkwɪt.ɪŋ
💼 Corporate & Work
move the needle
muːv ðə ˈniː.dəl
💼 Corporate & Work
nonstarter
nɒnˈstɑː.tər
💼 Corporate & Work
north star metric
nɔːθ stɑːr ˈmet.rɪk
💼 Corporate & Work
OKR
ˌoʊ.keɪˈɑːr
💼 Corporate & Work
passion tax
ˈpæʃ.ən tæks
💼 Corporate & Work
pre-mortem
priː ˈmɔː.təm
💼 Corporate & Work
quiet firing
ˈkwaɪ.ət ˈfaɪər.ɪŋ
💼 Corporate & Work
quiet promoting
ˈkwaɪ.ət prəˈmoʊt.ɪŋ
💼 Corporate & Work
quiet quitting
ˈkwaɪ.ət ˈkwɪt.ɪŋ
💼 Corporate & Work
RACI
ˈreɪ.si
💼 Corporate & Work
rage applying
reɪdʒ əˈplaɪ.ɪŋ
💼 Corporate & Work
reskill
riːˈskɪl
💼 Corporate & Work
resume canyon
ˈrez.ə.meɪ ˈkæn.jən
💼 Corporate & Work
retro
ˈret.roʊ
💼 Corporate & Work
scrum
skrʌm
💼 Corporate & Work
shift left
ʃɪft left
💼 Corporate & Work
snackable
ˈsnæk.ə.bəl
💼 Corporate & Work
sprint
sprɪnt
💼 Corporate & Work
stakeholder alignment
ˈsteɪk.hoʊl.dər əˈlaɪn.mənt
💼 Corporate & Work
standup
ˈstænd.ʌp
💼 Corporate & Work
stealth working
stelθ ˈwɜːk.ɪŋ
💼 Corporate & Work
story points
ˈstɔː.ri pɔɪnts
💼 Corporate & Work
synergize
ˈsɪn.ər.dʒaɪz
💼 Corporate & Work
touch base
tʌtʃ beɪs
💼 Corporate & Work
upskill
ˌʌpˈskɪl
💼 Corporate & Work
velocity
vəˈlɒs.ɪ.ti
💼 Corporate & Work

Bottom line

Most corporate vocabulary trades clarity for plausible deniability. Decoding the words is half of working in any large organisation.

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