In the Loop & Up to Speed: Clever & Useful Business Terms Every Go-Getter Needs

By Caroline Taggart

The bottom line is this: The workplace is a minefield of business jargon that people exchange on a daily basis, and it can all start to sound like everyone around you is speaking another language. So if you have ever wondered whether you have hit the glass ceiling or if a cubicle monkey will respond to mushroom management, become bogged down in the marzipan layer or are confused about what to do about the elephant in the room, this is the book for you. From indecipherable abbreviations and business terminology to buzzwords, motivational phrases, and more, In the Loop and Up to Speed uncovers the origins and meanings of many useful—and some not so useful—phrases that can be heard in the workplace and in everyday life, such as:

 

·        level playing field                       touching base

·        reinventing the wheel                 firing on all cylinders

·        brainstorming                            corporate DNA

·        methodology                             keeping your options open

·        raising the bar                           blue-sky thinking

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Readers Digest
• Release date: Oct 11, 2012
• ISBN: 9781606525579

Caroline Taggart

Caroline Taggart worked in publishing as an editor of popular non-fiction for thirty years before being asked by Michael O'Mara Books to write I Used to Know That, which became a Sunday Times bestseller. Following that she was co-author of My Grammar and I (or should that be 'Me'?), and wrote a number of other books about words and English usage. She has appeared frequently on television and on national and regional radio, talking about language, grammar and whether or not Druids Cross should have an apostrophe. Her website is carolinetaggart.co.uk and you can follow her on Twitter @citaggart.

Reviews for In the Loop & Up to Speed

[booktsunami · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I've always been fascinated at the way a language evolves within business. I remember one of my managers telling a group of slightly gob-smacked underlings that we were to: "Fish-hook the opportunities over the gunwales into the opportunity-capture-crucible". And I bought this book with the idea that I might get a few laughs from it and maybe be able to use some of the words and phrases in a comic book I produce once a year for former work colleagues. Actually, it's a much more serious work than I had anticipated and even treats terms like "proactive" in a serious way...."tending to initiate change rather than reacting to events".Nevertheless , I've been able to distill some lovely corporate-speak out of the words Caroline features: "So he had to get into bed with HR by proactively buying-into the revolving-door policy. This was really pushing the envelope for a non self-starter, going-forward, and he found he wasn’t in the loop or on-message with his work-life balance."Not a great book. But mildly useful to me for my purposes. I give it two stars.