Friday, March 12, 2010

English with an American Corporate Accent - 011

This is another collection from recent meetings and trips. It works best if you can find a native English speaker with exposure to corporate America to elaborate on the finer points that I cannot cover well here.

* This is one of my gripes, please fix that. [This is one of my complaints, please fix that.]
* You really don't have visibility into that space when we take the jump into that new technology. [You really don't know enough when we take the jump into that new technology.]
* I heard the same thing in my neck of the woods. [I heard the same thing in my organization.]
* Oracle in red should be exactly (255,0,0), not an iota less in shade. [Oracle red should be exactly (255,0,0), not a single shade less.]
* This is just a motherhood and apple pie talk. [This is just a straightforward and common sense talk.]
* They are going to provision for peak demands. [They are going to provide the capacity for peak demands.]
* That was the over-arching concept for that presentation. [That was the main theme and concept for that presentation.]
* That is a good segue, I guess. [That is a good transition to a new topic, I guess.]
* We want to make sure that the idle power number is up to scratch. [We want to make sure that the idle power number is reasonable comparing to others.]
* Under the hood, there are two implementations for that feature. Above the hood, customers should see the same thing. [Beneath the surface, there are two implementations for that feature. Above the surface, customers should see the same thing.]
* How much head room do we need to cover the spikes in demand? [How much buffer do we need to cover the peaks in demand?]