# "Touring the facility and picking up slack" ? Meaning? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495 "2009-01-22T19:05:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495/1 "2009-01-22T19:05:03Z")
Okay, I’m listening to an old Cake song named Short Skirt, Long Jacket. There’s a line or two: _She’s touring the facilities she’s picking up slack_ Does that any meaning in normal English, or is that just songspeak? ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495/2 "2009-01-22T19:26:24Z")
Well, it describes her power. She’s an upper manager or diginatary of some sort, in a position to be taken on a tour of the facility. ‘picking up slack’ I see as her directives to make the facility more efficient. “You there, if you’ve time to lean, you’ve time to clean” Sort of thing. It’s painting the subject as a no-nonsense, empowered woman. “Changing her name from Kitty to Karen” - To be taken more serious in her (male dominated) world? When does this get shunted of to Cafe Society? Lyricology isn’t an exact science, yet… ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495/3 "2009-01-22T19:26:25Z")
\*Slack \* (from M-W): a portion (as of labor or resources) that is required but lacking \ She’s touring the facilities and doing stuff that needs doing. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495/4 "2009-01-22T21:54:15Z")
> [@Mr.Slant](#): > > Okay, I’m listening to an old Cake song named Short Skirt, Long Jacket. > > There’s a line or two: > _She’s touring the facilities > she’s picking up slack_ > > Does that any meaning in normal English, or is that just songspeak? That’s the line that bothers you? not: _with fingernails that shine like justice and a voice that is dark like tinted glass_ ? The whole song is gibberish… that’s what makes it so awesome. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495/5 "2009-01-22T22:10:58Z")
I always wondered if a voice ‘like tinted glass’ is darker, or less dark than a ‘Dark Brown Voice’ . We need some standarized unit of voice darkness so I can get a picture of these people. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495/6 "2009-01-22T22:19:27Z")
I knew how to visualize those lines, **anson2995**. Picking up slack failed to conjure any pictures… ---
**Author:** ![ThatsMyMO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71e660/32.png) [@ThatsMyMO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThatsMyMO)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495/7 "2009-01-23T16:12:15Z")
It’s such a brilliantly absurd lyric isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495/8 "2009-01-23T16:15:03Z")
Yeah. That’s half the beauty of Cake. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495/9 "2009-01-23T16:44:03Z")
I didn’t mean to be snarky, but I guess I’m still confused… were you saying that you didn’t know what the phrase “picking up slack” meant, or that it didn’t make sense in the contest of the song. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495/10 "2009-01-23T16:55:18Z")
I’m just wholly unfamiliar with the turn of phrase. It fits in the song just fine, I was just unsure how far they were stretching English whn they used it. ---
**Author:** ![JimAkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c89c15/32.png) [@JimAkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimAkin)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495/11 "2010-12-09T09:55:56Z")
It’s not gibberish, it’s poetry. 🙂 Only persons of authority or celebrity get to “tour the facility.” The woman in the song must be the former, because only someone with power (intimidating power at that) can “pick up slack” – increase efficiency, make the staff more productive – just by making the rounds. The woman who’s the subject of the song is authoritative, upwardly mobile, and ruthless (that machete of hers). ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495/12 "2010-12-09T10:43:18Z")
Interesting. The first video I found on YouTube was various reactions to this song: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF43shMjs0o](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF43shMjs0o) Quite illuminating, really. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495/13 "2010-12-09T10:49:26Z")
> [@Dervorin](#): > > Interesting. The first video I found on YouTube was various reactions to this song: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF43shMjs0o](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF43shMjs0o) > > Quite illuminating, really. Missed the edit window: I didn’t realise this was the official video to this song. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495/14 "2010-12-09T14:39:37Z")
To me, “picking up slack” is completely standard English, at least around these parts. At least as widely understood as the phrase “around these parts” itself. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495/15 "2010-12-09T14:58:15Z")
As opposed to being a housekeeper in an old people’s home, which involves a lot of picking up slacks. ---
**Author:** ![Spit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@Spit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spit)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495/16 "2010-12-10T15:36:28Z")
I always interpreted (As does my Wife) that they were describing the perfect girlfriend/future Wife. She is sexy enough to wear a short skirt with a long jacket, which tends to give women a “bitchy” (in a good way) appearance. She is smart enough to “Tour the facility” and be sure that the green room/food/etc are up to par for the band. If there is any “slack” i.e; Little pieces of bread with big pieces of meat that would require folding, she would immediately have it corrected. She is the person “In charge”. Later, after all of the partying days are over, she changes her name from Kitty to Karen, because she is no longer part of the “Rock & Roll Lifestyle”, if you will. She trades in the MG for a Lebaron to cart around kids. Yet, she remains sexy enough to pull off a short skirt and a long jacket if she were so inclined. At 16 when I first heard that song, I understood it to be the perfect woman, and I searched until I found her. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495/17 "2010-12-10T15:38:25Z")
> [@Spit](#): > > Later, after all of the partying days are over, she changes her name from Kitty to Karen, because she is no longer part of the “Rock & Roll Lifestyle”, if you will. So, she’s a woman you would go the distance with? ---
**Author:** ![Spit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@Spit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spit)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495/18 "2010-12-10T16:09:07Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > So, she’s a woman you would go the distance with? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-the-facility-and-picking-up-slack-meaning/482495/19 "2010-12-10T19:48:33Z")
> [@Mr.Slant](#): > > I’m just wholly unfamiliar with the turn of phrase. > It fits in the song just fine, I was just unsure how far they were stretching English whn they used it. Oh, okay. How about “slacking off,” do you know what that idiom means? If not, it means that you’re not completing your fair share of whatever the project is. So picking up slack is what the people who are getting things done are doing: their share _and_ whatever you didn’t bother with as well.