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Deciphering the 123 Most Common Business Acronyms

By Kat Moon

Ever feel like your co-workers—or, worse, your boss—are speaking to you in a different language? No, I’m not talking about your team suddenly deciding to conduct a meeting entirely in French. I’m talking about what often seems to be the language of the business world: acronyms.

While some of us have the guts to ask for clarification when we have no idea what’s being said, others of us cringe at the thought of asking potentially “stupid” questions. Well, to everyone in the latter group: Today’s your lucky day. We’ve rounded up abbreviations for the most commonly used terms that you’re likely to run into at work (or more likely, in an email).

Better yet, they’re categorized by department, so you can prep before a meeting with your finance, technical, or marketing teams. (And because we’re pretty sure that, regardless of your role, you don’t want to be the only one who nods with a confused smile when there’s a RFD because the CTR for your website decreased and a QA test is required by EOD.)

GENERAL

BID: Break it down

COB: Close of business

EOD: End of day

EOM: End of message

EOT: End of thread

EOW: End of week Read More…

April 6, 2015

in Bits and pieces, Did you know?, Slang, Words
4 Comments

35 Modern Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Oxford Dictionary Online is a warehouse of over 600,000 words. Despite this large arsenal, we continue to coin, clip, and blend new words into existence, and the Oxford folks pump some of these new words into their dictionaries. Here are some more recent additions with their official definitions.

1. Bling (n): Expensive, ostentatious clothing and jewelry.
*
2. Bromance (n): A close but non-sexual relationship between two men.
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3. Chillax (v): Calm down and relax.
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30 Awesome British Slang Terms

by Chris Haigh

British slang is a niche of its own, evolving and transforming and adapting from city to city and from year to year, just as the English language itself has done. While American slang has become nearly universal with the influx of TV shows, films, and other media filling the screens of a significant majority of the media-viewing global population, there is so much more available once you dig beneath the surface of British slang terms and can discover some real gems beneath the surface.

So, if you’re an aspiring Anglophile looking for some new lingo to help fuel your love for all things British, or you just fancy seeing what kind of words the British find themselves using their day-to-day, check out our thirty best British slang terms for you to start using and incorporating into your vocabulary immediately…

1. Mate

‘Mate’ – one of the commonly used terms of endearment and affection in British slang terms. Used when you are talking to a close friend, and is often easily substituted for the American ‘buddy’, ‘pal’, or ‘dude’.

For example, ‘Alright, mate?’

2. Bugger All

‘Bugger all’ – a British slang term used to be a more vulgar synonym for ‘nothing at all’.

For example, ‘I’ve had bugger all to do all day.’ Read More…

March 10, 2015

in Bits and pieces, Did you know?, Humour, Reading, Slang, Words, Writing
5 Comments

The 100 Funniest Words in English


Abibliophobia	The fear of running out of reading material.
Absquatulate	To leave or abscond with something.
Allegator	Some who alleges.
Anencephalous	Lacking a brain.
Argle-bargle	A loud row or quarrel.
Batrachomyomachy	Making a mountain out of a molehill.
Billingsgate	Loud, raucous profanity.
Bloviate	To speak pompously or brag.
Blunderbuss	A gun with a flared muzzle or disorganized activity.
Borborygm	A rumbling of the stomach.
Boustrophedon	A back and forth pattern.
Bowyang	A strap that holds the pants legs in place.
Brouhaha	An uproar.
Bumbershoot	An umbrella.
Callipygian	Having an attractive rear end or nice buns.
Canoodle	To hug and kiss.
Cantankerous	Testy, grumpy.
Catercornered	Diagonal(ly).
Cockalorum	A small, haughty man.
Cockamamie	Absurd, outlandish.
Codswallop	Nonsense, balderdash.
Collop	A slice of meat or fold of flab.
Collywobbles	Butterflies in the stomach.
Comeuppance	Just reward, just deserts.
Crapulence	Discomfort from eating or drinking too much.
Crudivore	An eater of raw food.
Discombobulate	To confuse.
Donnybrook	An melee, a riot.
Doozy	Something really great.
Dudgeon	A bad mood, a huff.
Ecdysiast	An exotic dancer, a stripper.
Eructation	A burp, belch.
Fard	Face-paint, makeup.
Fartlek	An athletic training regime.
Fatuous	Unconsciously foolish.
Filibuster	Refusal to give up the floor in a debate to prevent a vote.
Firkin	A quarter barrel or small cask.
Flibbertigibbet	Nonsense, balderdash.
Flummox	To exasperate.
Folderol	Nonsense.
Formication	The sense of ants crawling on your skin.
Fuddy-duddy	An old-fashioned, mild-mannered person.
Furbelow	A fringe or ruffle.
Furphy	A portable water-container.
Gaberlunzie	A wandering beggar.
Gardyloo!	A warning shouted before throwing water from above.
Gastromancy	Telling fortune from the rumblings of the stomach.
Gazump	To buy something already promised to someone else.
Gobbledygook	Nonsense, balderdash.
Gobemouche	A highly gullible person.
Godwottery	Nonsense, balderdash.
Gongoozle	To stare at, kibitz.
Gonzo	Far-out journalism.
Goombah	An older friend who protects you.
Hemidemisemiquaver	A musical timing of 1/64.
Hobbledehoy	An awkward or ill-mannered young boy.
Hocus-pocus	Deceitful sleight of hand.
Hoosegow	A jail or prison.
Hootenanny	A country or folk music get-together.
Jackanapes	A rapscallion, hooligan.
Kerfuffle	Nonsense, balderdash.
Klutz	An awkward, stupid person.
La-di-da	An interjection indicating that something is pretentious.
Lagopodous	Like a rabbit’s foot.
Lickety-split	As fast as possible.
Lickspittle	A servile person, a toady.
Logorrhea	Loquaciousness, talkativeness.
Lollygag	To move slowly, fall behind.
Malarkey	Nonsense, balderdash.
Maverick	A loner, someone outside the box.
Mollycoddle	To treat too leniently.
Mugwump	An independent politician who does not follow any party.
Mumpsimus	An outdated and unreasonable position on an issue.
Namby-pamby	Weak, with no backbone.
Nincompoop	A foolish person.
Oocephalus	An egghead.
Ornery	Mean, nasty, grumpy.
Pandiculation	A full body stretch.
Panjandrum	Someone who thinks himself high and mighty.
Pettifogger	A person who tries to befuddle others with his speech.
Pratfall	A fall on one’s rear.
Quean	A disreputable woman.
Rambunctious	Aggressive, hard to control.
Ranivorous	Frog-eating
Rigmarole	Nonsense, unnecessary complexity.
Shenanigan	A prank, mischief.
Sialoquent	Spitting while speaking.
Skedaddle	To hurry somewhere.
Skullduggery	No good, underhanded dealing.
Slangwhanger	A loud abusive speaker or obnoxious writer.
Smellfungus	A perpetual pessimist.
Snickersnee	A long knife.
Snollygoster	A person who can’t be trusted.
Snool	A servile person.
Tatterdemalion	A child in rags.
Troglodyte	Someone or something that lives in a cave.
Turdiform	Having the form of a lark.
Unremacadamized	Having not been repaved with macadam.
Vomitory	An exit or outlet.
Wabbit	Exhausted, tired, worn out.
Widdershins	In a contrary or counterclockwise direction.
Yahoo	A rube, a country bumpkin.
@	The “at” sign.

Source

Image source

August 21, 2014

in General Learning, Idioms, Slang, Words, Writing
3 Comments

Talk English by colors

		WHITE
		a white lie	a harmless lie/ a lie to spare someone’s feelings
		white noise	static noise
		white as a sheet	scared, sick, surprised
		white as a ghost	scared
		white-collar	related to “desk jobs”
		a white flag	surrender
		to whitewash something	to mask the negative parts
		white wine	wine from green or yellow grapes
		a white Christmas	snow on Christmas day
		a white wedding	a traditional western-style wedding where the bride wears a white gown
		a white person	a person of Caucasian race
		white-hot	extremely hot OR popular
		a white paper	an authoritative report on a issue
		a white elephant	a useless knick-knack OR an expensive, useless thing
		white as the driven snow	innocent (often used sarcastically about corruption)
		white with rage	extremely enraged
		to bleed someone white	to take everything someone has, esp. money
		showing the white feather	acting cowardly
		a white-knuckle ride	a dangerous, nerve-wracking, scary ride
		that’s mighty white of you (old-fashioned)	that’s good of you
		lily-white	unmistakably Caucasian OR blameless, goodly
		white horses (surfing)	patches of white foam made by breaking waves
		white trash (American)	(offensive) uneducated, socio-economically disadvantaged Caucasian people
		whiter than white (British)	righteous, innocent
		BLACK a white pointer (Australian)	a topless female sunbather
		to blackmail someone	to threaten to reveal secrets unless payment is made
		to black out	to lose consciousness
		a blackout	a loss of electricity in an area
		the blackout	during wartime, extinguishing or covering lights
		black magic / the black arts	magic used for malevolent purposes
		the pot calling the kettle black	someone criticizing someone else for a quality they themselves possess
		the black market	illegal/underground sales and purchases
		little black book	book of contacts, esp. past or potential dates
		a black sheep	the outcast or disgrace in a group
		black gold	oil / petrolium
		black tie	formal clothing e.g. a tuxedo
		black humor	jokes about death or illness
		a black day	a day when something bad happens
		to be in black and white	to be written down officially
		to be black and white (a situation)	to be clear
		in the black	profitable
		a black mood	a bad, grumpy mood
		a black eye	a bruised eye
		to blacklist someone	to prevent someone from being hired
		to blackball someone	to shut someone out from group participation
		black and blue	bruised
		a black look	an angry/disapproving facial expression
		as black as night	very dark black
		pitch black	very dark black
		a black person	a person of African heritage
		black ops	extralegal covert activity, done in the dark (military/politics)
		black-hearted	cruel, evil, mean
		a black mark	an indication of wrongdoing
		to blacken someone’s name	to suggest/indicate a person’s wrongdoing
		the Black Death	The Bubonic Plague
		a black rat (British)	a traffic police officer
		Black Friday (U.S.)	The day after American Thanksgiving when many stores have sales
		the black dog (Irish)	a bad mood
		beyond the black stump (Australian)	the back of nowhere, far from anything
		RED in the red	unprofitable OR negative financial balance, owing money
		a redhead	a person with orange-colored hair
		red light district	area with prostitutes
		to see red	to be furious
		red with rage	furious
		to turn/go red	become embarrassed
		a red herring	a false clue
		to paint the town red	to dine, dance, experience fun in a town or city
		a red flag	a signal that something is wrong
		roll out the red carpet	give a big welcome
		red tape	unnecessary/excessive bureaucracy
		not one red cent	no money at all
		a red letter day	a special day
		a scarlet woman	a sinful woman
		scarlet fever	an infection with group A streptococcus bacteria.
		red-hot	very hot OR very popular
		red card	a sanction for a soccer player
		red alert	a serious warning of danger
		a red-blooded male	a virile, manly male person
		like a red rag/flag to a bull	provoking/aggravating anger
		red (adjective)	communist
		bleed red ink (British)	debt
		red in tooth and claw (British)	the wild, violent aspect of the natural world
		redshirting (U.S.)	delaying an athlete’s participation in sports order to lengthen his/her period of eligibility
		a red state (U.S.)	a state whose residents are politically more Republican
		a redneck (U.S.)	an uneducated, rural white American
		a red-bone (U.S.)	a light-skinned black woman
		the red scare (U.S.)	(historical) the worry that society would be infiltrated by communists and communism
		the red eye (U.S.)	the overnight flight between west and east coast
		GREEN green with envy	very envious
		the green-eyed monster	jealousy
		to give the green light	to give approval to proceed
		to be green (in a position)	to be inexperienced, a rookie
		to be green (policy)	to be environmentally aware
		the green room	room in a theater or studio where guests/performers wait to go on
		to turn green	to be nauseous
		green around the gills	sick-looking
		a greenbelt	an area of nature around a city
		greens	vegetables
		a green	a golf course
		a greengrocer	a person/store that sells vegetables & fruit
		the grass is always greener on the other side	other people’s possessions/situations always seem better than your own
		greener pastures	a better situation
		to greenwash something	to deceptively make practices/policies seem more environmentally friendly
		little green men	stereotypical/humorous description of space aliens
		as sure as God made little green apples	very certain
		colorless green ideas sleep furiously	(Linguistics) Noam Chomsky’s oft-quoted example of a sentence with good grammar but no meaning
		to have green fingers (British)	to be good with plants/gardens
		to have a green thumb (U.S.)	to be good with plants/gardens
		a greenie (Australian)	an environmentally aware person
		a green card (U.S.)	legal residency status
		a greenhorn (U.S.)	an inexperienced or young person
		greenbacks (U.S.)	dollars
		YELLOW yellow	cowardly
		a yellow streak	cowardice
		yellow-bellied	cowardly
		yellow journalism	disreputable, sensationalistic journalism
		a yellow card	(soccer) to give someone a first warning
		the yellow peril	(offensive, archaic) the fear that Asian people will outnumber/displace Caucasian people
		yellow fever	an acute viral haemorrhagic disease
		yellow fever (Nigerian slang)	traffic police
		a yellow dog Democrat (U.S.)	a voter who always votes Democrat in every election
		BLUE out of the blue	suddenly, unexpectedly
		a bolt from the blue	a sudden/unexpected thing
		to be blue	to be sad
		a blue funk	a feeling of melancholy
		the blues	sadness OR a 3 chord style of music
		once in a blue moon	infrequently
		blue-collar	related to manual labor or the working class
		a blue blood	an aristocratic person
		to talk a blue streak	to talk a lot
		to turn blue	to have difficulty breathing
		blue with cold	feeling very cold
		until you’re blue in the face	having lost your patience
		blue chip stock	stock of an established/financially sound company
		working blue	performing using foul language
		a blue movie	a pornographic film
		a blueprint (for something)	a design, a guide
		true blue	faithful
		blue on blue	in military: friendly fire
		into the wide/wild blue yonder	to an unknown/faraway place
		blue balls (lewd)	male sexual frustration due to unfulfilled sexual urges
		to turn the air blue	to swear a lot
		between the devil and the deep blue sea	a dilemma
		the boys in blue	the police
		the thin blue line	the police
		a blue state (U.S.)	a state whose residents are politically more Democrat
		a blue (British)	a Tory
		to scream blue murder (British)	to express yourself angrily
		a blue-eyed boy (British)	a male who can do no wrong, who is favored by authority
		having a blue (Australian)	having a fight
		make a blue (Australian)	make a mistake
		BROWN a brown-noser	a sycophant
		in a brown study	being contemplative; daydreaming
		browned off (British)	annoyed
		PURPLE purple prose	flowery, romantic writing
		born in the purple	born into a high ranking/aristocratic family
		the Purple Heart (U.S.)	a U.S. military honor badge
		a purple patch (British)	a period of exceptionally high achievement
		ORANGE agent orange	a defoliant used in herbicidal warfare
		Orangemen (Irish)	Protestant fraternal organization
		PINK in the pink of health	very healthy
		tickled pink	very pleased
		a pinko	a communist
		to see the world through rose-colored glasses	to see the world through an optimistic filter
		rosy	positive, optimistic,
		to get a pink slip	to be fired
		the pink pound (British)	consumer spending by gay people
		GREY grey area	unclear
		grey matter	the brain
		to give someone grey hairs	to try someone’s patience
		gray market	sale of products via nonstandard distribution channels or at an unofficial price
		grey nomads (Australian)	retirees who travel around the country
		the silver screen	the movies
		GOLDEN a golden boy	a well-regarded, successful man
		a golden handshake	monetary incentive to join a company
		a golden parachute	money given to an executive leaving a company
		golden ears	great listening ability to discern quality or commerciality
		a golden shower (lewd)	urinating on a sexual partner
		a golden mean	the desirable middle (between extremes of excess and deficiency)
		COLOR off-color	inappropriate, crude
		to show your true colors	to reveal your true self or feelings
		a colorless person	a boring person
		colorful (e.g. tale, history, life)	event-filled and interesting
		colorful language	vivid or expletive-filled language
		to pass with flying colors	to do very well
		local color	having typical characteristics of the local area
		color commentary	facts & comments about athletes during a broadcast
		a horse of a different color	a completely different thing/idea
		a country’s colors	the colors of a national flag

SOURCE

June 19, 2014

in Bits and pieces, Did you know?, Humour, Slang, Words
6 Comments

Top 100 Favorite British Slang Words and Phrases

1. Tosser – Idiot
2. Cock-up – Screw up
3. Bloody – Damn Read More…

May 5, 2014

in Bits and pieces, Did you know?, Slang
5 Comments

53 Slang Terms by Decade

Every generation has its slang — new words and phrases that allow kids to communicate without their parents understanding. Read on to learn some of the most popular slang terms through the decades.

1920s

Book hangover

I simultaneously love and hate the feeling when I finish a good read.

tumblr_n1ltjnXc1V1rnephao1_500

Image courtesy: etsy.com

Image courtesy: someecards.com

And in the end:

BOOKWORMS will rule the world – as soon as we finish one more chapter.

Need another magic world?

Find a book you’ll love:

March 5, 2014

in Did you know?, Slang, Writing
41 Comments

13 Wonderful Old English Words We Should Still Be Using Today

As the years pass, language evolves.

Since the days of Chaucer and Shakespeare, we can all agree English has become less flowery.

Some fantastic vocabulary just dropped out of everyday conversation.

Author Mark Forsyth writes about the words we’ve lost. From his book “Horologicon” to his Tumblr and published articles, we compiled a list of the best words that need reviving.

1. Ultracrepidarian (n):”Somebody who gives opinions on subjects they know nothing about.”
Example: Too many ultracrepidarians discuss the conflict in Syria. Read More…