Category Archives: From work

There are so many abbreviations or expressions that are used in work. I would like to share anything I heard or learned in my work with you.

06 Sep

pepper in talk?


Pep talk (source:http://brownsharpie.courtneygibbons.org/)

Today was Labor day which is one of the national holidays in the United States. In addition to the fact that people do not go to work, it has a few meanings to the American people. It is the end of summer. To enjoy the symbolic last day of the summer, people go for a picnic where they grill a lot. Labor day also meas the start of NFL and college football season, which I am so happy about. After labor day, the number of people playing golf decrease a lot because people start to watch college football on saturdays and NFL on sundays. These are a few things I know about Labor day. Do you guys know anything else you want to share?

Moving on to today’s expression, let me ask you a question! Have you ever experienced any situation that your boss or boss’s boss call a meeting and make a short or long talk about work, work, work? Well, more specifically, the main thing that he/she is trying to say is that you need to work harder? I am sure you do have that experience, (In which you would be talking to yourself like, “Oh! Great! Here it goes again!”) Maybe you are the one who is making that talk? Oh… good luck with that! Well, either way… Do you know what is the English expression you can use for that kind of talk? It is called, “PEP TALK.”

Definitions I found on the web are:

1. a vigorous, emotional talk, as to a person or group, intended to arouse enthusiasm or increase determination to succeed, etc.

2. This is usually a 5-10 minute speech given by your Supervisor at work,so as to make you work twice as hard for the same amount of money.

Well, the first one sounds pretty good but, in reality, you would hear pep talk in relation to the second one. Don’t you think?

Anyways, I had to find the origin of “PEP” to figure out why people started to use the expression. PEP is a shortened form of pepper. Now, in general, putting some peppers in your food sort of stimulates your appetite, doesn’t it? (American people use pepper a lot in the food. And, I do also love peppers.) Having that kind of feeling, what would be your feeling if someone add pepper in their talks? That is right! It is encouraging and stimulating. Another very good example of pep talk is the time when a coach of a football team tries to encourage the players before they go out to play a game, like “Hey, Guys, It is the time that you guys just go out there and show what you have! Let’s go! You can do it!”

Now, let’s put some peppers in your talk when you want to encourage yourself, shall we!

29 Aug

Brits vs Yanks vs Aussies

I have seen so many inspiring stories in my life but nothing is like this. You should really watch this!

NOW, LET’S BE THANKFUL!

I am very happy today

Can you say this sentence out loud? OK! Now, what kind of accent did you use? American? British? Australian? or Canadian?

Well, there are so many different accents when it comes to speaking English, I think. A few weeks ago, there was an orientation for the Master’s program in which I am teaching. There were around 50 students from 16 different countries. They, of course, have all different accents, such as Chinese, Indian, Australian, Korean or American, when they speak English. Interesting thing is students have different accents not based on where they are from but where they learn English. For example, there was a student who is Chinese but she learned English in Australia and she has Australian accent. Thus, when she says “I am very happy today,” it sounds like “I am happy to die.” Back in Korea, I had a coworker who learned English in UK. Whenever she says, “I can” or “I can’t,” it sounds very weird to me because I initially learn how to speak English in Canada.

So, what kind of accents do you have?

Having said that, I have heard a few words you want to know. Brits, Yanks and Aussies. People here in America use Brits or Aussies. As you can imagine, Brits are people from UK and Aussies are people from Australia. Well, then people in UK use “Yanks” to describe people from America. Why? There is a story about this word. There is an wikipedia page about the word. But, to sum it up, it was a word used for referring to someone from New England area. And, as the country went through the Civil War, the word became to use to refer to those from the northern U.S. And, later, people outside of the U.S. started to use this one to refer to American people. The baseball team name, New York Yankees, originated from this word.

So, remember! If you are here in America, they would use the words like “He is a brit or aussie.” It is very short and hard to catch the words correctly if you do not pay attention enough. The first time I heard my friend saying, “He is a brit.,” I thought she was saying, “He is a brick.” which does not make sense at all.

Now, are you happy today or are you happy to die? What is your accent?

04 Aug

not a big fan of it

What is the best way to express disagreement?

Well, you could say, “I don’t like it.” or even simpler, “No!” But, is this really a good way of conversation? I guess not. So, what other alternatives we would have? For example, you and you friends are talking about a TV show such as The Office. Well, your friends really like it but you think it is a dumb show. (I am not saying the show is really dumb. It is very fun to watch.) What would you say? If you are really close to your friends, it would be fine for you to say like, “Well, I do not like it. That show is stupid.” But, if you are not really close to them, I think you should use some other expressions like, “Well, I am not a big fan of it. I think the story is not really great.” Or, “I am not that into it. I think Mad Men is better.” (Mad Men is also a very great show. You should watch it too.)

I think people in America do use many expressions which are not direct. For example, if you just look up a dictionary to find out a verb to be used for disagreement, the word you can easily find would be “disagree.” Then, you can simply use it in conversations like, “I disagree.” or “I do not agree.” But, I am not sure it is really a good one to use, especially in business conversations. So, I would suggest to find and learn some of the expressions that can be used in situations where you need to say no or disagree.

In that sense, I think “I am not a big fan of it” is a good one. I have heard this expression a lot from my friends. My American friends! Do you have any other expressions you use a lot when you disagree with someone or you do not like something?

27 Jul

tool in the shed

Who taught: Carl

Shed

Here is the definition of shed on Wikipedia.

It is typically a simple, single-story structure in a back garden or on an allotment that is used for storage, hobbies, or as a workshop. Sheds vary considerably in the complexity of their construction and their size, from small open-sided tin-roofed structures to large wood-framed sheds with shingled roofs, windows, and electrical outlets. Sheds used on farms or in industry can be large structures.

There are so many different types of sheds, such as bike shed, hay shed, garden shed, or boat shed.

Most of sheds have bunch of tools in them. Now, imagine you are in your garden shed and looking at different tools. Well, a few of them would be in good shape and some of them are too old and covered with rust.

Having this kind feeling in your mind, I would like to suggest a good expression you can use to describe a person who is not really intelligent. “Not the sharpest tool in the shed!”

So, next time if you meet someone you think he/she is not intelligent at all, instead of saying, “He is an idiot!”, try to say, “He is apparently not the sharpest tool in the shed.”

I learned this one from Carl who is my boss. So, this might be one of the expressions used by old people. (Carl does not look like old at all but in fact he is quite old.) My young friends! (If you are younger than me, you can consider you are young 🙂 ) What do you think? Would you use this or have you ever used this one?

06 Apr

calling people’s name at work

“정육부 김과장님! 전화왔습니다. 3번 라인으로 받으시기 바랍니다!” (Jeong Yook Bu Kim GwaJang Nim! JeonHwa Wat Seup Ni Da. Sam Bun La In Eu Ro Bat Eu Shi Gi Ba Rap Ni Da.) Hew… This is the longest one ever. Can you even try to say this Korean? 🙂 In English -> “Manager Kim of the meat department! You have a phone call! Please take line no 3!”

During the easter weekend, Jessy and I went to Washington, DC to enjoy the annual cherry blossom festival.  First thing we did was going to a big Korean market, almost like Costco size, over there to eat some authentic Korean food. While we were having lunch, there were several announcements about phone calls and asking someone to take them by using a specific line. Of course, they spoke in Korean. Hearing them, I suddenly realized one thing about cultural differences between Korea and America. In Korea, when you need to call someone at work, you usually go by their last name plus their job title. As you may noticed from the announcement above, the announcer said, “Manager Kim!” Especially, if someone is higher than you, you never call their names at all. If you do, you might be fired. Always, last name + job title. Or, if you want to use their name, then full name + job title. Whereas, in my company here in America, I call my boss by his first name. I remember that, when I first met him, I called him “Mr. Kelly” but he insisted me to call him by his first name. I even use the first name to call my CEO and President. Maybe, this is very unique in my company since my company is not big. (Is it true? Or most American companies have the same norms?) So. I realized a big effect on decision making process due to this cultural difference. First, calling my boss by his first name makes me feel really comfortable and more closer to him so that I can speak my opinions out in meetings. This of course makes the organization more open to diverse opinions. At the same time, this may cause some decisions to be made slower, I guess. In case of Korea, I felt like there were some sort of limits I have in terms of speaking out my thoughts based on my job title. But, this sometimes leads to a faster decision making process. I do not think one thing is better than the other but it is just different and I felt so weird to hear calling someone by their title and last name for the first time after staying in America for four years. I am also very curious whether there are any differences in different countries. Could you tell your story if you have any differences in your country?

Speaking of work, there are two interesting acronyms you might be interested in.

1. PTO : Paid Time Off (Instead of saying vacation, these days, most of the American companies use this term.)

2. STD : Along with the PTO, there is another one, STD (Short Term Disability). When you are really really sick and cannot make it to the work for a specific period of time, you are under the STD. Funny thing is if you use this acronym in America, most people, I would say 9 out of 10 (maybe 10 out of 10), will think the other STD, Sexually Transmitted Diseases. So, be careful! 🙂