Here are a couple of new ones:

1. A guy I worked with used to call elements in a plan (a bathroom, for instance) a "nugget" or a "chunk." I thought it was kind of funny when he said this.

2. I had a rep say he would send me a "tickler" once. Initially I was frightened. He meant a teaser email, but it sounded like he meant a sex toy that looked like an octopus.

3. My old boss told me in confidence that one of our clients had "scrambled eggs for brains."

4. A crazy-haired PM I worked for once used to always ask "what's our attitude about this?" Drove me nuts. And yet I found myself saying it too, later, to other people I worked with.

5. A superfamous architect I worked for used to say "digitally supercharged" about anything we created in the computer (also known as "the machine".) I found this same superfamous guy one Friday morning trying to scan one of his watercolors by placing it in the output slot of the office's Epson printer. No joke.

you can tell a crit is gonna be really bad when the presenter starts with:

" i just kinda feel like _________ "

that roughly translates to, my projects may seem to suck, but i think it works. I can't help but feel bad for them at that point.

i just heard my boss say "time to re-fuel" referring to lunch...

then he comes in my office chewing loudly while explaining his sketches...he'll pause in the middle of a sentence to scrape the bits of food on the walls of his mouth with his tongue...

dammson,
that's nasty


Situation: boss walks up behind my desk

Discussion:

the boss - "what's archinect?"

me - "the best damn website for everything architectural and more..."

the boss - "I see...and how is that helping you get your work done..."

me - <cringing>

Thrifty, next time, just say "Career Development."

I used to know this website that was all mumbo jumbo about productivity and making the office money and crap like that. I would keep it minimized, and whenever I would hear someone walking up behind me, I would restore that website. Clearly, they already know I'm not busy doing sanitary napkin holder details, but if I'm looking at a web page, might as well be that one.

stop fucking around on Archinect and get back to work

Spy's everywhere
http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/balance/Shopping_Online_During_Work__20061213-101054.html?subtopic=Other+Work%2FLife+Topics

Chili,
Thanks for the suggestion...now back to this thread

Phrases or words that make me cringe -

"Sanitary Napkin"

Oh....there is one ....which anyone working in New England has heard from his ole italian contractor, in that unique accent: "I have a better idear!"

'The Meal?'
(No, just the bleedin' burger. If I'd wanted anything else I'D HAVE F****** ASKED FOR IT!!!xxx@:lvkvm)

'Value Engineering'
A British term which is about neither value nor engineering. It means 'What is the cheapest way to get away with it and thus maximise our profit'. Obviously, architects are particularly keen to spend sould-destroying hours and energy maximising someone else's profit.

any kind of acronym that is not universally understood

any kind of phrase invented for a situation, for which a plain English substitute is clearly available, intended to make morons sound clever.

ahh, that first one happens to me often, solidred.

architecture sucks

"You're letting yourself off easy"

"Do you know what I mean?" (No not really)

"Think in human terms"

"It would be nice if you could use your whole brain instead of half of it, you know create balance"

"Don't spend any time on this, but I need..."

A typical small project introduction by my old boss. Came to mind after comtemplating what UNmotivated me.

"cutting edge avant garde firms"

corporate blackballing

"I don't think we'll worry about that right now."
"I'll only do that if so and so tells me to do it."

Both said to me this morning.

"your design juices are still flowing"

It's 1984 - "have you signed up for the e-mail terror alert service"

I said, "Trojan" and I do not mean rubber, power down your computer......NOW!"

overtime and 18 hours of sleep for the week apparentally means...

"its not that you didnt have time, its that you didnt *make* time"

yea. thanks.

oh, how i hate that one.

"that should only take 5 minutes"

"structural coordination"

"that's almost what it wants to be" combined with first above.

i hope i never talk like this, though i know inevitably i will. it's the curse of archi-babble.

someone's probably already mentioned this one, but i can't be bothered to read almost 500 posts at the moment...

a female friend of mine described being ogled by less-than-discrete guys as being "eye-raped"

i am nowhere near easily offended, but that one made even me feel a little squirmy.

o-sphere.

i-blank

"let's touch bases"

are we playing baseball?
sounds too much like knock boots
and I think they mean check-in or "touch base"

Although I love saying "back at the ranch..."

Boss - "well you can't go to Europe then because we are really really really busy that time of the year...and... I'll be out of the office."

Me- "oh, where will you be"

Boss- "Europe"

(with a little convincing and a few adjustments, it actually worked out alright)

form finding

my boss always says "jazz it up a bit"

Its Been Fun!

"make it more Cape-Coddy!"

ok i've finished the plans...."now please make it look nice" (make the elevations) > senior partner

"hipster"

"design - coming from the all inclusive art kid"

"faux"

"feng-shui"

"ohhh how was your weekend?"

clean lines

bringing the outside in

blurring the boundary between inside and outside

inside becomes outside

inside is outside

let's put some lipstick on this pig

"What is the name of that Engineering Firm you work for?"

My favorite Civil Engineering Uncle

referring to anything as a "polished turd"

being referred to as "chief" or "guy"

"whadya think chief?"

"how bout it guy?"

"a la"

Contractor Project Site Super....talking to Project Manager back in office: "The Kids from the Architecture Firm will be taking care of that."

can we fit the amherstburg building on the cambridge, welland, london, and grimbsy sites?

i know this isn't a catch phrase but the dialogues here have been classic...

job captain : "we are going to use E.I.F.S. board up near the parapet."

me : "what's E.I.F.S. board?"

job captain : "i dunno."

"i'm late"

"this is a special client and he wants a really nice house, but I don't want you to work on it during business hours??????". I guess you want it done during my free time.... after 5:00pm and on weekends. As said to me by a former starchitect boss, I left the next week.

"Can someone help me out with my Cooper Union home test?"

"make me"

"chocolatebabies"


sometimes I like to switch out all adjectives with the word 'goat' or 'seacow'

I try responding to other architects with missy elliot lyrics

easy like sunday morning - if you don't like a thread, just move along and shake it off.

personally I dislike the poster for 2010 (blowtorching the world??) but you don't see me in there going coocoo for cocoapuffs.

"i'm not happy and the clients are not happy"

fuck you!!!

"ok, now lets crap this puppy up." actually said in order to PRE-value engineer something...

"why don't you sketch out a couple little ideas and i'll do the same" meaning...you go doodle for a little while while i figure out what you're actually going to draw in your computer.

"I know AutoCAD version 1.0"-laughingly uttered while sketching something in midair...referring to the fact that this person knows nothing about computers and or the software which this whole industry works on.

"yyyyeaaaaahhhh....uhhhhhhh...i...uh think we'll go in a little different direction...." - fine, whatever.