Terms Which Have Disappeared

[Trenchfriend]

Eel-pie, potatoe-mash and "mushy peas", Britain altogether. But, I would eat it.

 

[Stanley Doble]

What happened to the word Executive? For a few years in the mid fifties everything was executive. Long socks were 'executive length'. Edsel was the new car for the young executive on the way up. Packard even made an Executive model.

I guess for a while there every young man aspired to be an executive. Guys who never owned a pair of shoes until they joined the Army got a degree on the GI bill and started up the ladder. They thought they had it made, the first man in their family to have a college degree and a white collar job.

Now their grandsons are middle management in a frayed short sleeve shirt wondering if they will still have a job this time next year. What the hell happened?

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Those who live by the Corporation shall die by the Corporation."

I remember seeing "Executive Desk Toys" listed in a catalog once and finally realized what Marxists mean by "late stage capitalism."

 

[ChiTownScion]

What happened to the word Executive? For a few years in the mid fifties everything was executive. Long socks were 'executive length'. Edsel was the new car for the young executive on the way up. Packard even made an Executive model.

I guess for a while there every young man aspired to be an executive. Guys who never owned a pair of shoes until they joined the Army got a degree on the GI bill and started up the ladder. They thought they had it made, the first man in their family to have a college degree and a white collar job.

Now their grandsons are middle management in a frayed short sleeve shirt wondering if they will still have a job this time next year. What the hell happened?

I remember my grandfather (a blue collar Roosevelt New Deal Democrat) making jokes about the "Junior Executives" in his suburb boarding the commuter train and carrying attache cases that likely carried a liverwurst sandwich.

Three decades later I was carrying my briefcase or computer case on those same trains to my law office. No liverwurst sandwiches, though: going out to lunch was always one of those few luxuries which I never denied myself.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

"Those who live by the Corporation shall die by the Corporation."

I remember seeing "Executive Desk Toys" listed in a catalog once and finally realized what Marxists mean by "late stage capitalism."

Can you provide me with the link to the Lounge's "No politics" policy?

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's a joke, son.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Can you provide me with the link to the Lounge's "No politics" policy?

That's just Lizzie. You should be used to her by now. You know she dreams of machine gunning everyone to the right of Huey Long. And you also know she will never get the chance so why worry about it?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Besides, the guillotine's more refined.

Or that fine old Patriotic American tradition of tar and feathers....

 

[2jakes]

....that fine old Patriotic American tradition of tar and feathers....

Lizzie, I’m surprised you didn’t mention family traditions!

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

It's a joke, son.

Like this?

 

[Fading Fast]

What happened to the word Executive? ...

I don't know if this happens in gov't, but in Corporate America title inflations in an never-ending event because, for the period of time it works - with current titles - it is cheaper than giving someone a raise and once it no longer works, new "impressive" titles are created and the cycle starts again.

When I started in the mid-'80s, Vice-Presidents in banks and Directors in brokerage firms were reasonably high-up titles that only a few had and, usually, reflected years and years of successful contribution and work. President and Managing Director were really high up and reflected many years of work at a high level with impressive success.

Over the years, these titles have been diluted as they were handed out more often instead of raises or along with smaller raises. For example, now, directorships/vice presidency are handed out to kids who have been in the business four or five years and whose contribution has been positive but not outstanding.

My favorite example of title inflation was when a brokerage firm I worked for in the early 2000s created a title above Managing Director - (get this) "Global Managing Director" (and this was a regional firm that had all but no overseas presence). The competition to become a "Global" MD was intense and I have no doubt many were willing to accept the "Global" title without a raise.

Hence, title inflation will never stop as it works - finding a fresh combination of 26 letters is much cheaper than adding a dollar to a salary.

 

[Fading Fast]

That's just Lizzie. You should be used to her by now. You know she dreams of machine gunning everyone to the right of Huey Long. And you also know she will never get the chance so why worry about it?

I have great respect for Lizzie and consider her a friend who'd I'd help in a flash, but I realize "come the revolution" she'd put a bullet in the back of my head in a flash as that's how those revolutions work - they have to take out those who believe as I do quickly and without emotion.

 

[2jakes]

I have great respect for Lizzie and consider her a friend who'd I'd help in a flash, but I realize "come the revolution" she'd put a bullet in the back of my head in a flash as that's how those revolutions work - they have to take out those who believe as I do quickly and without emotion.

Thanks!
"Come the revolution", I don't believe I'll
be visiting Maine.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Like this?

Or this:

The funny part is that Kenny Delmar was born in Massachusetts, and died in Connecticut. He really was as damn Yankee as they come, despite his character.

 

[belfastboy]

Can you provide me with the link to the Lounge's "No politics" policy?

Yes, it gets tiresome doesn't it!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Hence, title inflation will never stop as it works - finding a fresh combination of 26 letters is much cheaper than adding a dollar to a salary.

When I was in radio, every new person hired, after a couple of months was "promoted" to "Public Service Director" in lieu of a raise. That meant transferring endless piles of tedious public-service announcement transcriptions to tape cartridges for airplay. It was a boring and loathsome job that nobody wanted to do, and the new promotee would last just long enough before the next wide-eyed newcomer came along was ready to take it over.

I'm convinced that the vast majority of "promotions" in the world, no matter where you work, are of this nature.

 

[Fading Fast]

When I was in radio, every new person hired, after a couple of months was "promoted" to "Public Service Director" in lieu of a raise. That meant transferring endless piles of tedious public-service announcement transcriptions to tape cartridges for airplay. It was a boring and loathsome job that nobody wanted to do, and the new promotee would last just long enough before the next wide-eyed newcomer came along was ready to take it over.

I'm convinced that the vast majority of "promotions" in the world, no matter where you work, are of this nature.

When I started working in the '80s, I "played the game" and said, when appropriate, of course I wanted to be promoted and wanted more responsibility - blah, blah, blah, but what I really wanted was more money. Then, as I started to understand how the game is played, I realized having a better title had value for when one looked for a better job internally or externally - fair or not, it genuinely affected how people perceived you and what they would pay you.

So, I tried to get both - more pay and a better title as the title helped with the pay in the bigger picture. As to promotion - title and pay were, sometime, unrelated as a promotion in my opinion has to do with the actual work - the responsibility / the scope / the relevance of your work.

In almost thirty years in Corporate America, I had been given at various times

• A Raise while doing the same job
• A "Better" title while doing the same job
• No raise or title change but a meaningful increase in responsibility and work (i.e., I was promoted without pay or title change) - which brings into question what the word "promotion" means (but if you truly improve your skill set and experience you can usually leverage that for more pay later).

On several occasions, I also never received a promise raise, bonus or title despite having successfully performed my job and met the requirements for getting the raise, bonus, etc.

It's all game playing (in the serious meaning of the word) and you just have to learn to play it as well as you can. It isn't fair, but we all know the expression about life and fairness.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I have great respect for Lizzie and consider her a friend who'd I'd help in a flash, but I realize "come the revolution" she'd put a bullet in the back of my head in a flash as that's how those revolutions work - they have to take out those who believe as I do quickly and without emotion.

Nah, the American terrorists didn't shoot or hang my Loyalist ancestors in Massachusetts -- they just ran them out of New England. They ended up in Nova Scotia, and stayed there for the next hundred years until the heat was off. Never did get their property back, though.

Even the Bolsheviks were not quite as merciless as they're painted -- great numbers of royalist "White Russians" were allowed to leave the country and find refuge elsewhere, including many of the titled nobility. Some of them came to the US and immediately tried to stir up trouble: some of them were involved in Henry Ford's anti-Semitic activities during the 1920s, some channeled funds to a certain Austrian guttersnipe in Munich, and some lived long enough to become involved in political intrigue during the Cold War. Others found more constructive careers -- Princess Alexandra Kropotkin enjoyed a long and very successful career writing celebrity/society gossip and beauty advice for Bernarr MacFadden's Liberty magazine.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Waste not, want not"

I just used that expression in another thread and thought - I always heard that one growing up used by the older "Depression Era" generation (my dad and grandmother, in my case), but not by the kids at school. Now I never hear it. Probably, just another one that will go away as that generation passes on.

 

[2jakes]

"Waste not, want not"

I just used that expression in another thread and thought - I always heard that one growing up used by the older "Depression Era" generation (my dad and grandmother, in my case), but not by the kids at school. Now I never hear it. Probably, just another one that will go away as that generation passes on.

Just read a post in another forum and
they used the caption,"

"Hubba-Hubba"

About the only time I hear it now is
on TCM.