Having a boss who is too afraid of looking stupid to ask you to define a term is a huge time-saver.

It has drawbacks though, when PHB doesn't even understand the basics and when you explain how something works/was done you have to do it without actually explaining it , because the eyes roll back into the head even though you were one level above "I took this thingy here and put it there, now fine! Here's your cupcake. Nap time."

And they ask for an explanation of a complex issue in 10 words or less.

Have a power-point slide of a stick figure with a sad face. "The product makes Mr Stickman sad. This fixes that." Wave a thick boss-repelling project information folder when you say 'This'.

Use that, copy and paste, every time. Don't interpret or alter in any way. Best case, Boss will take one look at the folder, panic and say: 'keep me informed'! Worst case you'll win some kind of award from Marketing for your communications skills.

Or they ask you explain this one specific concept. But, ONLY that, even though you have to explain all the underlying ones in order for it to even make sense.

My boss demands '3 good examples' because if you gave him the 100+ that are available, he would be forced to deal with not only the quality issue, but the quantum of problems as well.

Doing this is however, a neat strategy at pretending to give a damn, that allows him to torpedo any discussion with a minimum of effort. "That problem? Easily solved. This one, why did you bring it to me? And this one...honestly I don't know what the problem is!"

So last time he asked, I ignored his request, gave him something like 15, and suggested he choose...boy, was he not happy!

Don't it stink when you have to manage your own manager?

It's not so conven︆︆ient to ⚡communicate here ❤Adds to my friends ➤ http://gg.gg/j5vrf

Uses a Thesaurus on the PHB. It is Super Effective.

Yes. A head shot is worth 500 points.

I don't know what the word "anecdotal" means, but I've heard from friends that it's very convincing.

I also heard that it's not useful as data or in a formal argument.

Dilbert knows the PHB can't handle words of more than two syllables. He probably has 500 more long words in his arsenal for dealing with the boss.

German Dilbert (or any of the Scandinavian Dilberts) would have a grade A weapon here. They are in the habit of joining words together into 90 letter monsters.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

German: "Gelandegangigermehrzweckigerpersonenkraftwagen"

English: "Jeep"

Why is it that nobody remembers the name of Johann Gambolputty... de von
Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter-crasscrenbon-fried-digger-dingle-dangle-
dongle-dungle-burstein-von-knacker-thrasher-apple-banger-horowitz-
ticolensic-grander-knotty-spelltinkle-grandlich-grumblemeyer-
spelterwasser-kurstlich-himbleeisen-bahnwagen-gutenabend-bitte-ein-
nurnburger-bratwustle-gernspurten-mitz-weimache-luber-hundsfut-
gumberaber-shonedanker-kalbsfleisch-mittler-aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm?

'Monty Python' - Graham Chapman playing the character name you mentioned.

Which is how they arrived at "Kubelwagen" ("bucket car") and "Schwimmwagen" ("swimming car").

I always found it curious that German was considered the international language of chemistry and etc. when it handles technical terms so poorly.

clear ether

eon

The basic reason is that you can dismantle German nouns with a technical dictionary and a rudimentary understanding of the ways Germans compound nouns. That's convenient when Google Translate mucks up some hideous technical term.

It has much more unambiguous sentence construction. Remember the old joke about the German professor who rattled off all his verbs at the end of the lecture... like a bunch of end-parens at the end of a LISP program.

"'This account of you we have from all quarters received.' Only a German is so discourteous to his verbs."

- "A Scandal in Bohemia", Doyle.

cheers

eon

Poorlier than in "polymethylhydrosiloxane"?

A polymer with the structure CH3(H)Si-O. It's just what it says on the label.

cheers

eon

I vaguely remember an interview of Jobs in which he said that when he was asked by some high level French official (PM, President or so, hard to recall) why there are no computer languages with French keywords, he said that it is because those would be longer. I expect his answer wasn't well received...

Anyway, if they ever made keywords international it'd be best to start learning a new computer language by learning all the swear words.

That would certainly be necessary to understand the programming comments.

American: Jeep
English: Land Rover

GP originally.

All polysynthentic languages do that. Basically, you just spot weld multiple words together into one word.

English does this a bit, although we tend to use it with loan words from other languages, ie. "auto" plus "mobile" gives us automobile, "motor" plus "cycle" gives us motorcycle, etc.

We don't think there's anything odd about it, we just accept them as singular words. We don't say "auto mobile", we say "automobile".

Likewise, in German "Floor sanding machine rentals" isn't four words, it can be expressed as one.

https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

English doesn't "borrow" words. It mugs the other languages and rifles through their pockets.

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."

James D. Nicoll

Which means that English has a vitality that French, for instance. lacks -- because they have the Académie Française to keep foreign words out. This makes it easy for almost anyone to learn English, and almost no one to use it correctly. Myself excepted, of course.

Don't let red33410 know you posted that.

Made worse by old German Lutheran hymns, where a word could only be on one note, no matter how many syllables. The choir got stalled on the big words.

Has anyone tried those monsters on google translate. It knew Mr Youngs monster.

When she gets the idea to sell her wares, why does she think in dollar signs? Why not the Euro or Mark symbol?

It's because she is smart.

discombobulated

That means someone who doesn't like combos, right?

Who doesn't like combos? Personally I miss the Double Del Combo, and the Combo Cup with green sauce. Good times. Haven't had either for nearly 20 years.

It means that after you test it on humans, you give them the anecdote.

Anecdote <> antidote. *grin*

Ron White has a story about a friend he lost as a child because they didn't know the difference between "anecdote" and "antidote".

So when he swallowed Drano they stood around and told him jokes?

Close. He was bitten by a snake and Ron read to him from the Reader's Digest.

Yes, that was the joke - anecdote sounds like antidote. I don't know which is more disturbing - that you felt the need to point it out or that 2 people upvoted you who apparently didn't get it until you "explained" it. *grin*

One of the up-votes was from himself. The other was from a resident troll.

"Once upon a time there was an untested software patch..."

As a software engineer, I can confidently say that it was not "once'

As a QA manager I can confirm

And more and more are coming.