Hi friends I'm Rachna and today's class is about corporate jargon. Now what are jargons?
A jargon is a word or an expression used by professionals
and well more often than not, we don't understand what they mean when they use these jargons.
Well, so IT people have their own jargons, people who are marketers have marketing jargons
and when they use it with their co-workers, they understand exactly what they mean, but
maybe you and I won', okay. So, today we are going to look at common jargons that we use
in our day to day work life. The first on is, to be on the same page. Now, to be on
the same page doesn't mean that you're literally on the same page, but it means to have the
same amount of understanding or to agree with someone. okay. Now supposing I am proposing
an idea in in a meeting and I suggest something, and I look at a colleague of mine and say,
"Are you in the same page?" okay. That means I'masking him if he agrees with me or does
he feel the same or does he have you know are we like minded on this point. So when
you ask someone, "Are you on the same page?", you're actually asking if they agree with
you or if they have the same understanding as you do.
Now supposing a mother is telling her child something and he really does not follow it,
she tells him, "We're not on the same page. Now listen carefully to what I'm telling you."
That means she's asking him to understand or to agree with her, okay. So remember, to
be on the same page means to have the same amount of understanding or to agree with someone,
okay. The next jargon is ball park figure. Now, a ballpark figure is a tentative number
or say an approximate number or a figure. This is very commonly used by sales professionals,
accounts and basically all the people who deal with numbers all the time, okay. Now
supposing I order five coffee vending machines for my office and I ask him to give me a discount.
So, I really need to know how much I'm gonna pay him. So I tell him, "After discount, how
much do I need to pay you?" okay, what's my bill amount? And he tells me, "Ma'am, I've
not calculated the exact amount after discount, but well the ballpark figure is say five hundred
dollars, okay. That means he's giving me an approximate number, okay. So many time you
hear uh sales uh you know the sales head or the departmental head asking his team, "So
how much have you all achieved this month? Have you all achieved your targets?" So people
uh generally have not calculated the exact figure, but they do give him a ballpark figure.
That means uh you know just a tentative or an approximate number. So it's not the exact
number or figure, but somewhere close to that number or figure. SO a ballpark figure means
an approximate number or figure, okay. The next jargon is bandwidth. Oh, this is not
the one we talk about when we uh express the rate of data transfer. When we use it in our
work life, you know on day to day basis, we use it to say the willingness to do something,
or the physical or the mental stamina or the ability to do something. Now supposing I have
a lot of projects in my hand and my boss gives me one more, okay an additional one, I tell
him, "Sir, honestly I do not have the bandwidth to take on a new project. That means I mentally
or physically just cannot take on a new project, okay or sometimes you have a manager allocating
uh or allotting work to his junior and tells him, "Do you have the bandwidth to complete
this by tomorrow evening?" That means hes's asking his subordinate if he has the ability,
if if you know the physical or the mental ability of completing the work by tomorrow
evening, okay. So the the jargon used is- do you have the bandwidth to complete this
by tomorrow evening, right? So remember it means the physical or the mental ability of
working, okay. The next one is circle back. Well, very simple. Circle back means talk
later. Now suppose I am extremely busy and I get a call, uh you know probably uh making
plans for the Christmas party at in the office. So I say , "I'm busy right now, could we circle
back later on?" Okay, that means could I talk later. So I'm really busy right now, I can't
speak on this right now. Could I circle back or could we circle back later. That means
could we discuss this later. So when you wanna talk about something later, you always use
the expression circle back, okay friends. Well, the next one is face time. Well, face
time simple, in person meeting. That means a face to face meeting, okay. So I could say
that John has requested for some face time with the CEO of the company next week. That
means he has requested for some time to meet in person. To meet whom? The CEO of the company,
okay. Well, I wish you and I could have some face time. You know learning English would
be lot more fun. Fine, so face time means in person meeting, a face to face exchange.
Well, the next one is leverage. This is the most common jargon used in our corporate lives.
It means to take maximum benefit or advantage of something, okay. So well, every organisation
needs to leverage its key resources. That means every organisation needs to take maximum
benefit or advantage of its key resources right, to be successful. Well, sometimes we
are in a situation where uh we leverage on. That means we take maximum benefit or advantage
. So you see the situation is going to work in your favor and you act accordingly, that
means you are leveraging on the situation. So when you leverage it means you take maximum
benefit or advantage of a situation or something, it could be a company leveraging its resources,
right. So this is the most common jargon used in corporate world. Well, the next one is
phone tag. Now phone tag, obviously the word phone has uh got to do with telephone. Now
a phone tag is when two people are trying to contact each other over the telephone,
okay, and they always happen to miss each other's call. So supposing I call a client
of mine and he's not at his desk, I leave a voicemail and when he calls me back, I'm
not at my desk and then he leaves a voicemail and very often this exchange happens where
we are just unable to get in touch with each other over the phone. So, it's a very common
situation, okay and that is the time I'm gonna say finally when I get him on the phone, I'm
gonna tell him, " We've been playing phone tag since morning." Okay, so playing phone
tag means we've been trying to get in touch with each other okay, but the situation just
does not permit to. Okay. Fine, so phone tag is a situation where two people try to reach
out to each other over the phone, but both are busy and they always happen to miss each
other's call, fine? The next one is piggyback. Now, the word piggyback actually means to
carry someone on your back shoulders okay, like you have uh you know a father carrying
his lil girl on the back and playing, so you piggyback. But well when you use it in your
corporate life, that means you actually steal someone's idea without giving no credit to
the person. Now supposing I overhear a colleague uh talking about a nice marketing plan and
you know it's his idea, it's his great mind and I kind of feel I should steal it and propose
the same thing in the meeting, so I piggyback on his idea and make a similar proposal so
I get the credit. So people are going to get really impressed by what I said or suggested
as a marketing plan . But if you go to see, it is not original my idea, I have stolen
it from a colleague, alright? So that means I piggybacked on his idea and proposed the
same in the meeting. So well friends, a very wrong thing to do, don't piggyback, okay,
because it's it's rude it's mean to steal people's ideas and thoughts and take the credit
for it, alright, because it's really not your idea. So let people have theirs. So that is
what piggyback means, okay. So imagine in the meeting when I propose the same, he's
going to know she piggybacked this from me and probably Rachna just overheard me saying
it. So well, don't piggyback, okay. Well the next one is per se. Now per se means in itself
or by itself. Okay, now uh we usually use this expression 'per se' when we talk about
a particular thing in its own or on its own. Now supposing a colleague of mine sang at
the Christmas party, and well, it didn't go too well, so I tell her, "The song er se was
nice, but your voice was pathetic." I won't say patheic, but your voice wasn't up to the
mark, okay. When I say the song per se was nice, I mean to say the song by itself was
fabulous. Her choice of song was fantastic, in itself the song was brilliant but her voice
was not that great. Probably it was cracking or he had a real bad cold, so I'm gonna say
per se, okay. So uh well, sometimes uh I do tell a friend of mine, "the dress that you're
going to wear is beautiful." So the dress per se is lovely , but the way you carry it
matters. That means the dress by itself is a very beautiful piece, but the way you carry
it at the party is completely up to you. So use per se, okay. Or sometimes we have a fool,uh
you know a foolproof plan. So I'll say well the plan per se is foolproof, but how the
team executes it, is a different story altogether. That means the plan by itself is excellent,
okay, but how they execute it is a different story altogether. So when you abut something
that is small, a single element from a bigger thing or when you wan to talk about a thing
or anything particular on its own, by itself or in itself, you use the expression per se,
okay. Oh, the last one seamless. Now seamless means without any seams, okay. It means smooth
or it means without any interruptions, without any gaps, okay. Okay. Now what is a seam?
A seam is when, for example, I have a fabric and another fabric and then there are stitches
in between, right, so you can see it. There's a seam. So seamless is exactly opposite. It's
smooth, you can't make out. If there's a problem you just can't make out. Now for example,
uh my boss gives me a very difficult and a very challenging task to do and I do it beautifully,
okay. Of course I did have my issues, I did face uh you know uh, it was very daunting
and it was challenging, but the outcome was fabulous. He's going to compliment me and
say by saying, "You did a seamless job." You know, that means it was so beautifully done,
so smooth and so well done without any difficult, without any interruption, maybe without bothering
him, right? So he'll say, "Rachna, you did a seamless job." Now for example, uh you know,
there's this actress giving this really challenging shot in font of the camera, and she hopes
that she does it one go and she actually does. The director is going to praise her and say,
"Wow! That's a sheam seamless shot you gave." Okay, that means it was beautiful, you brought
out the emotions without any difficulty, without any interruptions, maybe without any retakes,
okay. So that is the way we use seamless. When something is performed smoothly, without
you know without any difficulty or interruption, we use the word seamless. Alright friends,
well these are the ten corporate jargons for today. I hope you enjoyed learning them. I'm
sure you're going to use them now. I'll be back soon with a new lesson, till then take care and bye