Comments on bulbulistan: unsuck

John, thanks for the etymology. I have used it a ...

2010-12-31T22:56:29.422+01:00

John,

thanks for the etymology. I have used it a few times now and if memory serves well, I did use the correct version, which, let's face it, is the only one that makes sense.

Oh, oh, oh dear. It's not "up your ass i...

2010-12-31T21:31:33.842+01:00

Oh, oh, oh dear. It's not "up your ass in alligators", it's "up to your ass in alligators" (as unsuck-it correctly notes). The full sentence is "When you're up to your ass in alligators, it's difficult to remember that your original objective was to drain the swamp." "Yak shaving" conveys a similar idea, but not quite the same; alligators bite, yaks (notionally, at least) don't.

'"up your ass in alligators"' I...

2010-10-28T16:35:33.933+02:00

'"up your ass in alligators"'

I prefer "up your ass with broken glass." Rhymes make everything better.

It makes sense, but I have to yet hear a PHB utter...

2010-08-13T14:55:50.463+02:00

It makes sense, but I have to yet hear a PHB utter the phrase "screw the pooch" or "up your ass in alligators" (which, incidently, I shall be using with great frequency henceforth).
Maybe the list has to do with the differences between global English and US English as well.

FYI, I am a project manager and I have never uttered the phrase "action item". People higher up the food chain have. Come to think of it, about 90% of their vocabulary is on that list - "ping me", "single point of contact", "KPI"...

It's not so much the individual appearance of ...

2010-08-13T14:44:50.096+02:00

It's not so much the individual appearance of any one expression as the density of them all put together that makes for corporate-speak. PHBs do say things like "It's win-win" enough to associate the idiom with them, even though plenty of other people use it. Even in a meeting full of geeks, I (the consummate geek) might say "Give me an action item to do XYZ", meaning "Put a notice in the minutes that I've agreed to do XYZ"; if I talked about "action items" every five minutes, on the other hand, I'd be a project manager. ~~ shudders ~~

But I was glad to learn what "fill your boots" means; it's British and I'd never heard it before.