I heard this phrase used again today, “this is a job with a steep learning curve.”
Now over the years I have created hundreds, maybe thousands, of graphs and by my reckoning if the X axis is time then the steeper the curve the faster you can learn everything you need to know. Alternatively if the X axis is stuff you need to know then there isn’t much of it.
So please give me the job with the steep learning curve rather than the alternative.
Any pet hates of your own?
I’ve always taken steep learning curve to be the ratio of time vs what you need to have learned already. It also implies that you’re going to be thrown directly into the hard stuff. Sounds like fun to me.
Socialize. As in “socialize that idea to the X team”. I’m not going to be able to get the idea to behave well around the X team as it’s, well, an idea not a puppy!
In “steep learning curve” the y-axis is stuff you gotta learn. The x-axs is time. Therefore, you have to learn a lot of things in a short amount of time – the d(stuff learned)/dt is pretty large = “steep”
Makes perfect sense.
It describes my past wek pretty well, where I had to learn two new computer languages in a hurry, along with other stuff.
It’s not saying that you can learn things fast – it’s saying that you have to learn things fast, whether that’s easy for you or not.
This.
As far as corporate buzzwords go, “socialize” just sets my teeth on edge. I hate hate hate hate hate it. What’s so wrong with “discuss” or “present” or “introduce”, all of which mean exactly the same thing minus the pretentious overtones?
Meteoric rise. Meteors fall, they don’t rise. I hear at least once a week about some celebrity’s meteoric rise.
Then how do they get all the way up there? :dubious:
I thought this referenced the speed, and not the rising.
Sonuvabitch! I’d never considered that before, that’s going to annoy the piss out of me now.
I hate it when people think “toe the line” is “tow the line.” Really dumbass, where are we towing it, is it far?
Okay this is just mispronunciation, but some of my coworkers can’t say “excavate.” “Yeah, they’re gonna have to escavate that.” I don’t get it, the same folks can say “excited” and “exercise” but “excavate” confounds them. Also, “pitcher” Holy AssChops, why can’t people say “picture,” it’s not tough.
You should axe them about it.
I was once going to take someone to task for the exact opposite. “What are you going to do, touch the line with your feet? It’s TOW, moron!” Before embarking on my tirade, I decided to look it up just to make sure.
Oh.
Tow makes sense to me, though. If the line is a rope, and you’re using the line to move a big rock or hoist a sail, then you need everyone to help out. That would also explain the origin of “slacker”, come to think of it.
“He wants to have his cake and eat it, too.” My initial response to this is, “What the hell else are you going to do with it?!!!”
I do recall a discussion about this very phrase on this board where this expression means that someone wants to keep something that he must consume to gain any benefit from it, or something like that. Still, it’s a dumb phrase.
Do you have an idea for a better replacement phrase that means the same thing?
A couple that I’m surely not the first to (geekily) object to:
A “quantum leap” is not necessarily a huge jump, just a non-continuous one.
“Exponential growth” is not really just a synonym for “extremely rapid growth.”
But my understanding of the expression is that it means to conform. I don’t see how hoisting sails comes into that. (Although I see per wiki that “In days of sail, “toe the line” was used as a command for crewmen to line up along a crack in deck planking, similar to the modern “Attention!””)
No, it means…
(Looking up in Wiki to make sure I’m not wrong.)
Oh.
I thought it meant pulling your weight. Nevermind.
Years ago an issue of The Onion had a simple headline:
“African-American Neighborhood Terrorized by Ask Murderer”
Stupid phrase?
“hone in on.” It’s “HOME in on.” I’ve never seen a honing missile before. :smack:
This is one of many listed in Wikipedia’s entry for eggcorn.
The reverse of this is that strong coffee drink expresso.
And thanks for that Wiki link JFF. I’d always thought it WAS just desserts.
What the hell is “a day of reckoning”? Every time someone asks you a question are you supposed to answer “Well, I reckon so” or “Gosh, I reckon not”? Do visitors say “Gee, you guys sure do a whole bunch of reckoning around here”?
To reckon is, roughly, to judge/compute/tally/settle up. “day of reckoning” is, essentially, judgment day.
I had a good time pouring over that list.
It’s actually supposed to be the opposite. “He wants to eat his cake and have it too.” That way makes sense, because once it’s gone, you can’t just bring it back to possess.
But have your cake and eat it too? Yeah…you can pretty easily do that.
I imagine it got switched around because the first way seems to flow better.
And “decimate” does not mean destroy. It means “reduce by one-tenth.” An impairment, perhaps, but not utter ruin.
“Socialize the team?” Ugh… Something else to add to Bullshit Bingo.