Neologism in Business

Serie Business English

Wenn unter englischen Geschäftsleuten „blamestorming” angesagt ist, sollten Sie nicht an Ihrem Gehör zweifeln. Die internationale Geschäftssprache Nummer eins bringt ständig neue Wörter hervor. Im aktuellen Teil unserer Serie Business English zeigen wir Ihnen, auf welche Wortschöpfungen Sie sich noch gefasst machen müssen.

Have you been dilberted recently? If not, you are lucky, because it is unpleasant. The term comes from the experiences of Dilbert, the comic strip character, and means to be overworked and oppressed by your boss (otherwise known as the big cheese).

If you haven’t been dilberted, you have almost certainly taken part in a little blamestorming. This is a variation of brainstorming: instead of trying to generate new ideas, a group of employees get together to see who they can blame for the fact that things have gone wrong. Yes, I thought you had done that once.

You didn’t know these words? Well, the language of business – like the English language generally – constantly creates new words and expressions, or gives old ones new meanings.

Take, for example, the expression plug and play. Originally, this was used to describe a computer that you could take home from the shop, plug in, and use immediately (don’t laugh too hard). Now, it can mean a new member of staff who doesn’t need any training, but gets straight down to work: “That new sales manager is fantastic. She’s totally plug and play.”

Maybe you have taken part in a blue sky meeting– a form of brainstorming during which participants are encouraged to let their imagination run free, with no barriers (cost, time, etc) to the ideas that can be put forward. A similar idea is thinking outside the box, which means looking at a problem in an unusual or original way.

Extras:

• Service: Hinweis auf vier Webseiten zum Thema Neologismen und neue Ausdrücke sowie auf eine Broschüre

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