What's a word that should never be used in a professional setting?

[binbows]@sh.itjust.works to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 33 points –

I personally wouldn't use any word like "slay" in the workplace. I think it'd be completely unnecessary.

44

“Union” - your boss, probably

Related, "revolution" is probably frowned upon in most professional settings. Funny how that works.

Unless you work with rotary equipment.

One would think that “hot strippers” is not acceptable in any technical professional environment. Except there are mechanical devices that strip optical fiber from the jacket/coating. The devices are called strippers. Some of those devices are heating up the coating before removing for the easiness of stripping. Those are hot strippers. And of course, MS Outlook blocks e-mails that have these words.

Antidisestablishmentarianism.

(unless you are an historian of the Anglican Church)

That word always sounded like it was rather self explanatory so I never looked it up before. I never realized it was specifically the disestablishment of the Church of England.

As someone who was baptized Anglican, I am 100% an Antidisestablishmentarian.

If you don't intuitively know which slang or curse words can be used in a given professional setting (they are not all alike), then you should avoid all profanity and slang, and speak proper English. Always err on the side of caution when your career, reputation, or important matters are at stake.

Software has more than its fair share of acronyms, which we often choose to say phonetically, like SQL gets said "sequel." We also have the TTY, and you often have to detach things from it. Depending on the context, best to spell that one out, or just substitute "terminal," but I've definitely been in meetings where someone said something about a process that needs to be detached from the titty.

Don’t say anything sexual or overtly blasphemous or curse at a customer/higher up and in my experience no one will really care. Read the room for sure but times have changed, I’ve not worked in a place with overt swearing rules in over a decade. Even in severe cases you’ll likely just be asked to tone it down

Guillotine - oh no wait, that one SHOULD actually be used as often as possible, in any professional context

I recall hearing that one should never use a three letter word starting with 'g' and ending with 't' (i.e. get, git, got, gut). Instead: obtain, stomach, 'being unhelpful' etc.

This was before github was a thing, of course.

For context, I like working with people that I am on friendly terms (like go out for drinks Friday after work) and I have the privilege to be able to avoid work environments where that's not possible.

IMO I don't think it's about the words, but the meaning of what you say. You can say a coffee is hot, but say that about the new receptionist and you deserve jail time (sexual harassment is a serious issue). The worst things someone could say don't involve any "bad" words, like a male colleague turning to the only woman in the meeting after making a remark about motherhood.

Context is always important too, once I heard someone say "the motherfucker keeps pooping allover the place" referring to a service that was particularly nasty after an update (programmer lingo).

Personally, I hate passive aggression, I am autistic I just speak my mind, and I don't understand it when others don't.