Free Republic

At the end of the day, have you ever wanted to pick low-hanging fruit with a large needle outside a box?If so, then you’ve probably attended way too many meetings in your lifetime. According to warnings from medical experts – and these are unverified, by the way – meetings are bad for your health because they are comprised of diets of elephants, cows and ducks.Indeed, we have heard all sorts of slang, corporate buzzwords and business-related words that make us want to get beat up by 800-pound gorillas, poked in the eye with a moving needle and thrown out the...

Many people commonly consume fiber-enriched foods to promote weight loss and prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes and cancer. However, in some individuals—particularly those with a silent vascular deformity—consumption of highly refined fiber may increase the risk of liver cancer, new research has found. While inulin promotes metabolic health in most who consume it, Vijay-Kumar and colleagues discovered that about one in 10 standard, seemingly healthy lab mice developed liver cancer following consumption of the inulin-containing diet caused by a previously unnoticed congenital defect called a portosystemic shunt. Normally, blood leaving the intestines goes into the liver where it is...

I was recently on a hike with my son's Naval Jr. ROTC unit. I spent a lot of time chatting with my son's instructor, a retired Naval Commander. Normally, when I hear slang or jargon that I am unfamiliar with I am not too shy to ask what it means. However, if one understands the context of what such terminology means then there is no reason to actually stop a conversation. Anyway. the commander used a phase, I believe it meant to do what is absolutely the least possible to acquire an objective or to achieve rank? I believe the...

The unsparing and harshly critical report from attorney Anton Valukas' investigation into General Motors, which held its annual shareholders meeting Tuesday morning, finds an array of culprits behind the company's ignition switch crisis. It cites a lack of urgency in the culture and, as GM CEO Mary Barra described it, "a pattern of incompetence." It blames an unwillingness of those in the know to reconsider their conclusions, and a dizzying number of committees with little clear accountability. The report also makes several references to the role corporate speak played in the wrongdoing. Typically, we think of corporate speak as trivialities...

There is a tendency that any group has to use words that make sense to some of its members, but are often unintelligible to outsiders. I have sometimes had to coach recent converts in “Church speak”.For example I may proudly announce that “RCIA classes will begin next week….so if you know anyone who is interested in attending, please fill out an information card on the table just outside the sacristy door.” Thinking I have been perfectly clear, a new member approachs me after Mass to ask what “RCIA classes are….and also what is a sacristy?”I have had the same reaction...

Among the procedures Army surgeon Hawkeye Pierce performed on “M.A.S.H.” was an end-to-end anastomosis. Most of the viewers, actor Alan Alda concedes, had no idea he was talking about removing a damaged piece of intestine and reconnecting the healthy pieces. Today, the award-winning film and television star is on a mission to teach physicians, physicists and scientists of all types to ditch the jargon and get their points across in clear, simple language. … “There’s no reason for the jargon when you’re trying to communicate the essence of the science to the public, because you’re talking what amounts to gibberish...

What a testament to the spirit and dedication of our workforce that we were able to reach 100 percent completion of ENGAGE! and COACH! training of nearly 55,000 TSA employees in less than a year – while also carrying out our security mission. This required team spirit, determination and the enthusiastic embrace of taking the evolution of security at TSA to the next level. On behalf of the Senior Leadership Team, congratulations to OSO HQ and field leadership, the Evolution team, the phenomenal facilitators, and our committed workforce for completing this phase of our cultural evolution with passion, enthusiasm and...

Sometimes our efforts to stand up for the less fortunate actually can grease their slide backward into even less fortune. That's what I thought of the verbal sucker punch with which August Wilson, the distinguished black playwright, walloped Bill Cosby, the distinguished black comedian. When Time magazine asked Wilson what he thought of Cosby's controversial criticisms of black parenting, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright was dismissive: "A billionaire attacking poor people for being poor," he said. "Bill Cosby is a clown. What do you expect? I thought it was unfair of him." I, by contrast, think Wilson is being unfair...

It's bad enough that we spend so much of our time spewing hatred towards one another over politics, the one thing we all used to agree to hate together. The least we can do is get the terminology right for heavens sake. I recently heard a young college moron [A person of mild mental retardation having a mental age of from 7 to 12 years and generally having communication and social skills enabling some degree of academic or vocational education. The term belongs to a classification system no longer in use and is now considered offensive, but accurate.] refer to...

In a letter to DNC supporters this week, newly elected chief Deaniac, the honorable Gov. Howard Dean himself, lays out his plan for bringing the Democratic National Committee back to greatness. I thought it might be helpful to provide a translation of that “plan” for those who have difficulty decoding modern DNC lingo. So here goes. The first stated objective in Dean’s plan is “Show Up! Never concede a single state, county, district, or voter. Build a truly national party that wages a [permanent] campaign in all 50 states.” This objective translates to “pull out your family tree book and...

At many schools, 6-year-olds don't compare books anymore — they make "text-to-text connections." Misbehaving students face not detention but the "alternative-instruction room," or "reinforcement room," or "reflection room." Children who once read now practice "SSR," or "sustained-silent reading." And in Maryland, high-schoolers write "extended constructed responses" — the essay, in a simpler time. Jargon has been a mainstay of bureaucracy for centuries, satirized in the works of Jonathan Swift and George Orwell. Education is particularly fertile ground: At school-board meetings, stakeholders gather to align curriculum to content standards; in class, teachers vertically articulate and differentiate instruction and give authentic, outcome-based...

At many schools, 6-year-olds don't compare books anymore -- they make "text-to-text connections." Misbehaving students face not detention but the "alternative instruction room," or "reinforcement room," or "reflection room." Children who once read now practice "SSR," or "sustained silent reading." And in Maryland, high schoolers write "extended constructed responses" -- the essay, in a simpler time. Jargon has been a mainstay of bureaucracy for centuries, satirized in the works of Jonathan Swift and George Orwell. Education is particularly fertile ground: At school board meetings, stakeholders gather to align curriculum to content standards. Teachers learn to vertically articulate and differentiate instruction...

VOCABULARY TESTS? Teachers are told to use plain talk, not jargon, in meetings with parents Monday, November 03, 2003By Dave MurrayThe Grand Rapids Press It's a scene likely to be repeated in West Michigan classrooms thousands of times this week. Mom and Dad visit an elementary school, fidgeting in too-small chairs as a teacher flips through a pile of papers, commenting on how little Bobby is doing in math, or whether Susie is reading as well as expected. Parent-teacher conferences can be 20 minutes of terror if teachers impatiently rush through the pile. Pity the parent who is told "assessments...

Jargon of war quickly crosses ideological gulf to daily usuage By Joseph P. Kahn, Globe Staff, 3/27/2003 ''Vertical envelopment'' could be a hot new techno band or a Back Bay zoning scheme. In fact, it's a term used by Pentagon officials -- masters of warspeak -- to describe the unleashing of massive air power on Baghdad, selectively targeting key installations, in the first phase of the war against Iraq. Think ''carpet bombing'' without the deep-pile connotation. Should the ''shock and awe'' campaign pave the way to ''catastrophic success,'' to borrow two more examples of current war lingo, then something besides...