Advanced Childhood Dialogue

November 1, 2004

Embed:

There's lots of business books that say we should learn from the wisdom of children, and I completely agree. During meetings, you may find the following two phrases useful.

"Not it!" This is good for shirking responsibility. Sample usage:

Big Boss: "We need to see a report summarizing this quarter's trends in the follow geographic regions..."

You: "Not it!"

"Shotgun!" Similarly, you may wish to express strong agreement with a sentiment, or that you're willing to go along with a suggestion that's been made. You're along for the ride.

HR Director: "We are strongly advocating that casual Fridays be extended to accommodate employees who elect to go pantsless."

You: "Shotgun!"

12:30 PM

2 TrackBacks

The next meeting catchphrases--from kids from face2face on November 2, 2004 11:38 AM

Forget "out of the box" and "walk the talk" (please forget them, please!). According to Anil Dash, the new phrases you might hear at meetings are more common now among the Sesame Street set: There's lots of business books that Read More

There's a HUGE money-making business book in this! from RelentlesslyOptimistic on November 4, 2004 2:34 AM

Anil Dash: Advanced Childhood Dialogue There's lots of business books that say we should learn from the wisdom of children, and I completely agree. During meetings, you may find the following two phrases useful. "Not it!" This is good for Read More

3 Comments

Very clever, there. But I fear you may one day be sorry for publicizing this! (Just kidding.) :-)

Diane Vigil | November 1, 2004 2:20 PM | Reply

Another good one to try would be the rapid back-and-forth of "no I didn't, yes you did..." E.g.

Boss: "Where is that PowerPoint deck I asked you to pull together. You said you'd leave it on my desk."

You: "No I didn't."

Boss: "Yes you did."

You: "No I didn't."

Boss: "Yes you did."

Etc. etc.

Meg Hourihan | November 2, 2004 1:37 PM | Reply

I don't believe that's an appropriate use of "shotgun". Shotgun is an time-tested and ancient way to determine position and responsibility. To reduce such an honored ritual to signifying mere agreement strips it of the competition which has defined the game since it's beginnings. It would be acceptable to use shotgun as you used "Not it!" though. For instance, in the same instance, you could yell "Shotgun, not doing it!". Of if it's a fluff assignment, you might just yell "Shotgun!" to grab it.

Taco John | November 3, 2004 7:24 AM | Reply

Leave a comment