‘Circling back’: Here’s a translation of corporate workplace jargon
Corporate speak is a language in and of itself and half of it requires reading between the lines.
It can also be passive-aggressively “polite” in a way that masks the speaker’s true feelings. Workplace frustrations and pressures often spill over into how we communicate with people, whether it’s your boss, clients or other coworkers. As a result, people have gotten adept at trying to sugar coat how we really feel when speaking to each other.
We compiled a list of the most frequently used work phrases and translated them to what people actually mean, and wish they could really say:
“Circling back”: I need an answer here and I’m annoyed I need to ask again.
“I don’t have the bandwidth”: I won’t take on this additional work without additional compensation.
“We have decided to pivot”: We made a mistake.
“Can I pick your brain?”: I’m fresh out of ideas.
“Respectfully” or “With all due respect”: You’re not going to like what I’m about to say.
“Per my last email”: Are you even listening to me?
“Apologies for the delay in getting back to you”: I completely forgot about you.
“Gentle reminder” or “Just a friendly reminder”: I need this now.
“I’m going to push back on this one”: I disagree with that idea completely.
“I’ll let you two take it from here”: Stop cc’ing me and clogging my inbox.
“Floating this back up your inbox”: Stop ignoring me.
“Let’s table that for now”: Worst idea ever.
“For future reference”: Don’t mess up again.
“I’ll run it up the flagpole”: I’m killing this idea.
“We need you to hit the ground running”: You’re on your own pal.
“We’re hot desking!”: We don’t have enough desks, but you’re still expected to show up.
“To be perfectly frank”: I’m going to be rude and disrespectful now.
“Thinking outside the box”: Please be less dull.
“Take it offline”: Let’s not air our dirty laundry in front of everyone.
“Interesting approach:” WTF are you doing?
“cc’ing [insert name of higher up] for visibility”: Your boss needs to see how you’re acting.
“Thank you in advance for your help”: You’re expected to do this task and you don’t have a say.
“FYI:” You should’ve already been aware of this information.
“Let’s assume positive intent”: I really don’t want to deal with the deeper issue here and unpack this.
“Let’s make sure we’re on the same page”: This is what’s happening, and that’s the final consensus.