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QUICKIE response to "When metaphors attack"
I'm on deadline with one of my other jobs today, folks, so I'll give further thoughts on Monday's question (and your intelligent responses) later. In the meantime, some brief thoughts in no particular order:
1. It's amazing how much of our language is figurative in some way when you stop to think about it, isn't it?
2. The LW had apparently lost a family member to a stabbing death. I think she would be well within her rights to ask coworkers and friends to be sensitive to that sort of metaphor.
3. In general, however, figures of speech are understood as such. Only when there is general agreement about the offensiveness of a term -- or at least sufficient controversy to skunk said term -- do idioms get retired.
4. Avoid sexual, religious, and I would now add "violent" metaphors in the workplace as much as possible, unless those idioms are already embedded in the workplace culture.
More later, mes amis, et bon weekend!
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About Miss Conduct
Welcome to Miss Conduct’s blog, a place where the popular Boston Globe Magazine columnist Robin Abrahams and her readers share etiquette tips, unravel social conundrums, and gossip about social behavior in pop culture and the news. Have a question of your own? Ask Robin using this form or by emailing her at missconduct@globe.com.
Welcome to Miss Conduct’s blog, a place where the popular Boston Globe Magazine columnist Robin Abrahams and her readers share etiquette tips, unravel social conundrums, and gossip about social behavior in pop culture and the news. Have a question of your own? Ask Robin using this form or by emailing her at missconduct@globe.com.
contributor
Robin Abrahamswrites the weekly "Miss Conduct" column for The Boston Globe Magazine and is the author of Miss Conduct's Mind over Manners. Robin has a PhD in psychology from Boston University and also works as a research associate at Harvard Business School. Her column is informed by her experience as a theater publicist, organizational-change communications manager, editor, stand-up comedian, and professor of psychology and English. She lives in Cambridge with her husband Marc Abrahams, the founder of the Ig Nobel Prizes, and their socially challenged but charismatic dog, Milo.
Who is Miss Conduct?
Robin Abrahamswrites the weekly "Miss Conduct" column for The Boston Globe Magazine and is the author of Miss Conduct's Mind over Manners. Robin has a PhD in psychology from Boston University and also works as a research associate at Harvard Business School. Her column is informed by her experience as a theater publicist, organizational-change communications manager, editor, stand-up comedian, and professor of psychology and English. She lives in Cambridge with her husband Marc Abrahams, the founder of the Ig Nobel Prizes, and their socially challenged but charismatic dog, Milo.
