To the max

[mamadeb]

Dear the banker who just called:

You're very sweet and nice and polite, which are very much appreciated. So I shall give you a word of advice: please don't use the word "awesome" in a business call. While it's good you think it is awesome that the unavailable agent can help you, the word itself says you are very young.

Love,
the secretary

And I know perfectly well that in five or ten years, it will be perfectly normal to use it - as my mother told me never to use the word "okay" twenty years ago, the very day I was told the exact opposite by the place where I was temping.


Awesome.

Comments

[ataniell93.livejournal.com]

I fear I say "awesome" and "excellent" and all sorts of other things like that at work. But never "tubular". That one died a well-deserved death around 1987, thank goodness.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Oh, so do I.

Just not for an official business type phonecall. Also, not a kid, so not worried about being taken for one.

[cyprinella]

I am, unfortunately, guilty of saying all kinds of things like "awesome", "that's cool" and "shiny".

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

I *wish* I was comfortable using "shiny". I really do. Because it's very cool *but* not trendy.

In my mouth, it feels wrong.

[aethereal-girl.livejournal.com]

I dunno, it seems trendy to me. As in, a couple of years ago I'd never heard it, and now all my friends use it. Maybe it's only geek-trendy.

[novembersnow.livejournal.com]

I say "excellent" on the phone with business associates all the time, but hopefully it comes off as former-junior-high-school-teacher-speak and not dippy-valley-girl-speak. I caught myself saying "awesome" once. When I got off the phone, I sadly informed one of my coworkers that I'd just heard the death knell for my vocabulary.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

:)

I'll say "It's cool", but since that's been around since I was a kid...

[novembersnow.livejournal.com]

I've caught myself saying "cool" on more than one occasion, though I try not to. I'm not sure why I seem to think "excellent" is OK and "cool" is borderline, but there you go. My brain is a strange place. ;)

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

I, too, use 'excellent' in that way (apart from I never taught junior high). :-) Also 'outstanding', my frequent use of which I blame entirely on my friend flt. In other situations, I am prone to use 'ace', 'groovy', 'far out', and 'rock on', but not in business-speak. Heh.

I did just a week or so ago send my resume to my parents' financial advisor, as she'd said who knows, she might be able to put me in touch with someone who might want to hire me for the summer -- and got an e-mail back that began, and I quote, 'AWESOME resume.' And I swear my very first reaction was 'What, like a hot dog?' ... So, yeah. I don't think I use 'awesome' in that 80's way anymore. ;-)

[novembersnow.livejournal.com]

I, too, use 'excellent' in that way (apart from I never taught junior high). :-)

In truth, I fear my overuse of "excellent" is more a result of years of watching The Simpsons (Mr. Burns!) than it is a throwback to my teaching days. (Don't tell my boss! :D)

But if you want to talk embarrassing speaking slip-ups, I think my worst one was back when I was substitute teaching and accidentally preceded a sentence to a student with the word "dude." The room all but fell silent. "Did you just say dude?" one of them asked. "Um," I said. And of course they laughed about it the entire rest of the period. *facepalms*

[jcalanthe]

Huh, this makes me wonder what counts as very young for you. I have a very casual style in general & wouldn't think twice about using the word awesome in a business context (I work in internet software in the Bay Area, so the culture is more casual in general). & I'm 33, so not worried about coming off as too young. At least I wasn't before... ;)