The business jargon

The following was posted on 1/31/2006
Mission Critical
The single most important thing to the success of the overall venture. The thing can not slip and it must happen.
“It’s mission critical that you close the deal this quarter.”

Critical Path
The actions that results in the success of a particularly mission. The things must happen for something to succeed.
“The press release is not that important. Closing the deal is the critical path.”

Hockey Stick
It’s the wooden instrument used in the sport ice hockey. The shape represents the steep incline upward along the handle. Hence, many VCs and entrepreneurs refer to the visual representation of a hockey stick to suggest revenues that rise steeply upwards. A company with a hockey stick revenue model is one that can perhaps successfully IPO.
“Fred, your business is very interesting and profitable, but I don’t see any hockey stick. How can I invest if there is no big return on my investment?”

“Go Postal”
Go crazy and kill people at your work. Americans use the term “go postal” to describe someone who can not take the pressure of their work and decides to take their aggressions out on their fellow employees. There are unfortunately numerous examples of US Postal workers who have taken up arms against their fellow employees. Presumably because the press of the job was too intense.
“We better give them a weekend off. We don’t want them to Go Postal.”

Drive it home
Push it until it’s succeeds. From US baseball where the home base is where batters try to drive the runners to.
“Don’t waste time in the negotiation. Drive it home.”

Struck out
In baseball, if you have three strikes thrown at you, you loss your turn at bat. If you struck out, you lose your chance.
“I tired to get it done for this quarter, but I struck out.”

Slam dunk
This is a term from US basketball, where a player slams the ball throw the net with great force. It means something that is a success.
“Don’t worry about the IBM deal. It’s a slam dunk.”

Flip it
To see or liquidate something quickly.
“I don’t care about the lone term value of this company. I just want to flip it.”

Kiss ass
You say nice things to your superior so they will favor you even though the things you say may not be true.
“That guy is such kiss ass. He always tells the boss that ugly shirt is handsome.”

Brown Nose
Someone who kisses ass so much, their nose has become brown with the shit of their superior.
“That lady is such brown nose. I can’t believe the boss puts up with her flattery.”

Kiss up kick down
Someone to be said of someone who treats his or her superiors very well, but treats his or her subordinates very poorly. Meaning they kiss the ass of their superiors and kick the people below them.
“He was a terrible boss – a real kiss up kiss down guy, no one likes to work with him.”

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The following was posted on 1/17/2006
I am a burger and beer guy
A CEO asked his Director of Marketing to arrange a dinner for the sales team. The Director of Marketing came back with a few fancy choices. Then the CEO said “I am a burger and beer guy”.
What the CEO meant is he is not fancy and wanted to keep it simple.

Are you game?
A husband said to wife “going to the zoo would be a good plan for Sunday. Are you game?”
Wife said “Yeah, I game”.
What she meant she would like to go to the zoo.

Cut a deal
If someone says they want to 'cut a deal' they are not saying they want to stop the deal. They are saying they want to make a deal with you.

Cut it out
If someone says, 'cut it out,' that means 'stop, stop it, cut it out.

Sweeten this deal
If you 'sweeten a deal' you are adding something to that deal, maybe extra money for the other person or you are bringing down the price or you are giving them some extra advantages.

Blow the deal
You certainly don’t want to blow the deal if you want to cut a deal with someone. In other words, you don’t want to ruin it.

You are a wheeler-dealer
It means you are really good negotiator.

Pull the trigger
It means – let’s do it – we need to pull the trigger on this project and get it underway.

Crack the code
It means figuring something out – if we can’t crack the code on this issue, then we’ll be really in trouble.

Peel the onion
It means digging into something to reveal more details/issues/problems – once we have the financial statement ready, we’ll be able to peel the onion even further and figure out why we paid too much on tax.

How to eat. . .

This “how to eat” section was inspired by a CAEA fine dinning event dating back to Oct. 2005. The participants raised some great questions, like: how do you butter bread, what you do with butter if it is still frozen, how you eat fruit at a dinner table etc.

One of them was puzzled by the fact that Americans enjoy eating artichokes. “I don’t understand what they eat. There’s nothing there. It’s just some leaves with a very dry taste.” He said.

Someone added “it’s the same feeling for Americans to see Chinese people eating chicken feet. We think it’s delicious but they say there is nothing on it except the dry skin.” Then everyone wanted to know how to actually cook artichokes. When they learned that the heart is actually quiet tasteful served with melted butter or sauce. But in order to get the tasty heart, you need to be very patient with peeling away towards it, leaf by leaf.

We have listed some of questions that were asked at the event below. We will continue to update the list as we receive more questions. The reference source is from Emily Post’s party and dinning tips.

How to eat grapes?

When pulling grapes off a bunch, don’t pull them one at a time. Instead, break off a branch bearing several grapes from the main stem. If the grapes have seeds, eat them in one of two ways: 1) Lay a grape on its side, pierce the center with the point of a knife, and lift and remove the seeds. 2) Put a grape in your mouth whole, deposit the seeds into your thumb and first two fingers, and place the seed on your plate.

How to eat artichokes?
Artichoke leaves are always eaten with the fingers. Pluck off a leaf on the outside, dip its meaty base into the melted butter or sauce provided, then place it between your front teeth and pull forward. Continue leaf by leaf, placing discarded leaves on the edge of your plate _or on a plate provided for the purpose), until you’ve reached the artichoke’s thistlelike choke or when the leaves are too small or meatless. Use your knife to slice off the remaining leaves and the choke, exposing the artichoke heart. Then cut the heart into bite-sized pieces and eat it with a fork, dipping each forkful into the melted butter or sauce.

How to eat Sandwiches and Wraps?
Sandwiches more than an inch thick should be cut into halves or quarters before being picked up and held in the fingers of both hands – although a sandwich of any size can be eaten with a knife and fork. A knife and fork are always used for a hot open-faced sandwich covered in gravy or sauce.

Wraps – Burritos, gyros and other sandwiches in which the filling is wrapped ion thin, flat bread are more easily eaten with hands. Any filling that falls to the plate is eaten with a fork.

How to eat bread?
Before eating bread, use your fingers to break it into moderate-sized (not bit –sized) pieces. Then butter the bread one piece at a time. Holding it against your plate, not in your hand. Hot biscuit halves and toast can be buttered all over at once because they taste best when the butter is melted.

If a restaurant serves an entire round loaf of bread on a cutting board, use the accompanying bread knife to cut it slices rather than wedges. Start at one side by cutting a thin slice of crust, then slice toward the center.

How to eat bacon?
Eat fried bacon as a finger food when it is dry, crisp and served whole. If the bacon is broken into bits, served in thick slices (as with Canadian bacon), or limp, eat it with knife and fork as you would any other meat.

How to eat cheese?
When served as an hors d’oeuvre, cheese is cut or spread on a cracker with a knife. Provide a separate knife for each cheese so that the individual flavors won’t mingle.

When cheese is served with fruit for dessert, it is sliced and placed on the plate with the fruit. Like the fruit, it is eaten with a knife and fork, not with the fingers.

When an after –dinner cheese course is ordered at a restaurant, the cheese will come arranged on plates centered with bread or crackers, a piece of fruit, or perhaps a small fruitcake of some sort. Cheeses served on bread or crackers are eaten with the fingers, but a knife and fork are used for everything on a place holding cheeses and fruit or fruitcake (the cheeses are eaten separately so that the full flavor comes through). Start with the milder cheeses and progress to the strongest.

How to eat baked potatoes (white and sweet)?
Baked white potatoes and sweet potatoes can be eaten in more than one way. The most common is to slit the top lengthwise with a knife, push on each end of the potato to open it wide, and mash some of the flesh with a fork. An alternative is to slice the potato clean through and lay the hovels skin-down side by side.

Add butter, salt, and pepper (plus extras like sour cream, cheese, or bacon bits, if desired) and use your fork to mash the additions lightly into the flesh before taking a forkful from the shell.

Another method is to slice the potato in half lengthwise and use your fork to scoop the flesh of both halves onto your plate. Neatly, stack the skins together on the edge of your plate and mix butter and any other condiments into the flesh with your fork.

If you like to eat the skin as well as the flesh, cut the potato into tow halves and use your knife and fork to cut the potato and skin into bite-sized pieces, one or two at a time.

How to eat bananas?
At an informal dinner, it’s fine to peel a banana and eat it out of hand; just peel it gradually, not all at once. At a more formal dinner, follow your fellow diners’ lead on whether to use fingers or fork. When a banana is eaten with a fork, the banana is peeled completely (the skin goes onto the edge of the plat) and cut into slices, a few at a time.