Talk the talk

Do you know what I mean?
Check out these key phrases and their meanings. Dodge or embrace them, depending on your perspective… Let’s play not… but.

Finger in the air – not a rude, dextrous gesture but a rough estimate.

Ticking the right boxes – not doing the pools but meeting objectives.

Put to bed – not putting your feet up for a kip but finishing the task in hand.

Think outside the box – not having a think while standing next to the phone booth but offering a fresh perspective on an issue.

Run it up the flagpole and see who salutes – not doing a stint of work experience on the jolly roger but trying out an idea or product to see if anyone likes it.

Getting into bed with someone – not necessarily sex but getting to know a colleague better. Well, yes, that could be entirely sex.

Adding value – not totting up the savings you’ve made by shopping at your favourite bargain basement but adding something other than cash to a business venture or relationship.

Synergy – not a newfangled skin product but a perfect, mutually beneficial match that yields more than expected.

Face time – not dolling yourself up but meeting up with someone away from the phone or email. But that could, of course, involve dolling up.

Drill down – not digging up the roads (again) but getting into detail.

Water-cooler moment – not breaking your back over a massive water bottle but usually what Ally McBeal or Pat Butcher were up to on TV the night before.

B2B – not a new way to state your bra size but a website that makes money out of business to business services or products.

B2C – not a new way to explain to the lingerie assistant what’s happened since you went on the pill but a website that makes money out of business to consumer services or products.

Bricks-2-clicks – not Lego’s latest money spinner but an established company going online.

Bandwidth – not the future (ish) of the Internet but boringly enough just having the capacity to do something. E.g. Do you have the bandwidth to read to the end of this article?