Inconceivable!

Creative creatives creating creative creative

2007-09-06T09:41:00.000-04:00

A passage from Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris:

Jim explained that in the advertising industry, art directors and copywriters alike were called creatives… Jim also told him that the advertising product, whether it was a TV commercial, a print ad, a billboard or a radio spot, was called the creative.

…
“You folks over there,” said Max, “you say you call yourselves creatives, is that what you're telling me? And the work you do, you call that the creative, is that what you said?” Jim said that was correct. “And I suppose you think of yourselves as pretty creative over there, I bet.”

“I suppose so,” said Jim, wondering what Max was driving at.

“And the work you do, you probably think that's pretty creative work.”

“What are you asking me, Uncle Max?”

“Well, if all that's true,” said the old man, “that would make you creative creatives creating creative creative.” There was silence as Max allowed Jim to take this in. “And that right there,” he concluded, “…That's a use of the English language just too absurd to even contemplate.”

With that, Max hung up.

Let's status on that

2007-08-27T21:51:00.000-04:00

Status is not a verb. I've heard it too many times now at work, and I'm getting concerned. "Let's status on that tomorrow." Or even worse, "We need to status up on that." Status up?

Congratulations, it's a Mandatory!

2007-08-01T16:21:00.000-04:00

Companies all want projects done immediately. Fast-moving e-businesses (are there any other kind?), web development consulting firms, branding outlets, ad firms, etc, all want to do more than these companies want, because they have profit margins and employ self-starters who can grow their businesses. At the intersection of what the company needs, and what the contracts want to overcharge for are what both agree MUST be done (and in reality will be all that ever gets done). Some people call these must-haves, mission-critical elements, or low-hanging fruit. Lately, though, companies call them Mandatories:

Mandatory (nout)(plural: Mandatories) = an element of a project or task that must be completed or the project / task fails.

Sounds nice, but that's not what the noun "mandatory" means. From Merriam-Webster.com:

Main Entry: mandatory / Function: noun / plural man·da·to·ries / Date: 1661
: one given a mandate; especially : a nation holding a mandate from the League of Nations

And surely, companies don't want nations holding mandates from the League of Nations to approve their word, do they? That's rhetorical, dummy.

Inconceivable!

2007-07-19T21:37:00.001-04:00

Vizzini: HE DIDN'T FALL? INCONCEIVABLE.
Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.