Great job – so far. You’ve prepared well for your first business trip to the U.S. (You even had a look at your American English business dictionary on the flight over!) Then, as you arrive at your new partner’s offices in Chicago, you hear some English that doesn’t sound like the audio cassettes back home. What’s going on here?

Welcome to Officespeak

What you are about to discover is that your new American business associates speak a blend of slang words and jargon that is defined as officespeak. Let’s walk you through a visit to your partner’s office to see some examples of this form of English.

When you arrive at the front desk, you introduce yourself and ask the receptionist, "Is Mr. Johnson in?" "Yes," she replies. "Welcome to Chicago! Mr. Johnson’s expecting you, but he’s not in his office right now. He’s huddling with his staff. He’s been looking forward to your visit. Let me page him and let him know you’re here."

"In the meantime," she continues, "help yourself to some fresh Starbucks." She motions down the hall to a coffee station.

You thank her and wonder just what "Starbucks" is as you walk toward the coffee. You pass the open door of a meeting room and hear loud voices. "What we’ve got here," an excited voice says, "is a big glitch. This is a mega account and it’s my gut feeling that we need to do something quick or heads will roll."

You’re perplexed. "What are they saying?" you think to yourself. "I don’t remember those expressions from my English books."

As you pour yourself some coffee, you hear more people talking down the hall. "Jessica, can you come over to my cubicle?" says one person to another. "My computer just crashed!" "I don’t mean to sound like a geek," says the co-worker who comes to the rescue of her colleague, "but I think you need to run one of those anti-virus programs."

Then, a friendly person approaches you as you sip your coffee. "You’re not the new temp, are you?" he inquires. New temp? Temp…temp…is that short for temperature? You don’t get it. You don’t know what to say. And this is only the beginning! Where’s your dictionary? Would it do you any good?

Learning the Lingo

As this brief office scene illustrates, the language of American business is a colorful but sometimes unusual mix of slang and jargon. What's more, it is a language that changes constantly as speakersadd new terms and phrases from many areas—including technology, science, sports and even off the streets. Yet, this is what makes the language a fascinating and rich form of communication.

There are many ways to keep up with all the latest American slang and jargon. As you discover new words, there are several Web sites (including American English Online) that provide you with online help:

• One excellent source of information is the American Dialect Society's 'Words of the Year' page. The page features some of the most useful, most likely to succeed, most outrageous, most unnecessary, and most original slang words, many of which are used in American businesses.
  http://www.americandialect.org/woty.shtml
  
  
• The American Slanguages page presents itself as the Hick-to-Hip Translation Guide. Give it a try and learn how the locals speak in a variety of U.S. and other cities of the world.
  http://www.slanguage.com
  
  
• The Common American Slang page features more than 250 common American slang terms that you can quiz yourself on and get your answers right away.
  http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~itesls/slang/slang1.html
  
  
• And don’t forget American English Online’s own Slang Cafe, filled with the latest American English slang, jargon, and expressions.
  http://www.aeo-now.com/slangcafe.html

So what’s the bottom line on learning new American slang? Be sure to read very current publications—in print and on the Web—and when you come across words or expressions you don’t know, keep your cool.

1. geek
2. bottom line
3. crash
4. glitch
5. jargon
6. keep my cool

Computer Madness

Here I am, trying to finish a letter to my client, and of course my computer decides to __________. I’m ready to scream but instead I ____________ and call our computer expert (who doesn’t liked to be called Mr. ________). When I tell him what happened, he starts using all this computer _________ that I don’t understand at all. After 20 minutes of playing with wires in the back of the computer he turns to me and says, "I’m sorry, but the ___________ is you have a big _______here."