Business Slang in the Modern Variant of American English

People use expressions that are specific to a specific field of activity very often. For some, it’s a necessary means of communication and the only (or the easiest) way to name an object or a process in one word; for the others, it’s a secret code basing on which they recognize a person of the same activity. People who work in a professional environment are gradually getting used to communication, which includes slang, and it is imperceptible for them to use such phrases and expressions in everyday life.

To begin with, it is important to define what slang is in general. Slang is the continual and ever-changing use and definition of words in informal conversation, often using references as a means of comparison or showing likeness; according to E. Matiello, it consists of a vocabulary of a non-stardard words and phrases in a given language [1]. Few linguists have tried to clearly designate what constitutes slang.

Bethany K. Dumas and Jonathan Lighter claim that an expression should be considered "true slang" if it meets at least two of the following criteria:

1. It lets down, if temporarily, “the dignity of formal or serious speech or writing”.

2. Its use indicates that the user is conversant with whatever is referred to, or with a group of people who are conversant with it and use the term.

3. It's a taboo term in ordinary discourse with people of a higher social position or greater responsibility.

4. It replaces "a well-known conventional synonym." This is done primarily to escape embarrassment caused by the conventional synonym or embarrassment or annoyance caused by having to elaborate further [2].

Expressions of business slang of modern American English can be divided into two groups: 1) expressions which have become common in usage and thus understandable to a wide range of people; 2) expressions which are not used outside the sphere of business relations and are unlike to be assumed by a person who does not work in this environment.

Sometimes people use some slang phrases which entered into everyday communication from the sphere of business without realizing it. Practically everybody knows such slang term for American dollar as a buck. The use of “buck” to mean “money” came about from the days when a deerskin was a common medium of exchange. The term appears as early as 1748 in the journal of Conrad Weiser, who wrote, while traveling through Indian territory (in what is now Ohio) in 1748, “He has been robbed of the value of 300 Bucks” [3]. A hundred years later, with the deerskin no longer an essential unit of trade, use of the word “buck” had shifted to a more general reference to the dollar. Other accepted and familiar to many people slang terms are 'blue collar workers' and 'white collar workers'. White collar worker performs work in an office environment, while blue collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor.  Most people know or at least have ever heard about the aforementioned expressions, many of them have become spread in colloquial speech.

Now let's go directly to the phrases that are used specifically in the business sphere and whose meaning is very difficult to determine without a dictionary of business slang. For instance, 'Take it offline'- this is a very commonly used phrase in the Corporate America. It means communication outside of the normal channel, or referred to a later time. The expression goes back at least to the mid-70s. It was first used in reference to an assembly line, and pulling a troublesome piece off the line and stopping the line until the problem was solved. This phrase is found in the article “When Should I Take an Interaction Offline?”  in context as follows: “There are many different situations that a business will encounter when engaging with customers online. Although it is beneficial to post a public response, there are sometimes negative instances where it is better to take a conversation offline, or make it private” [Ibid.].

In business and office slang there is a term 'deck' which means the Powerpoint slides used for presentations. Slide deck refers to the old presentation technology where there is photo transparency slide. A set of them are placed in a deck like a deck of cards. It is frequently used in business articles. So, in the article “The 7 Elements Investors Look for in Your Funding Pitch” we find this word used in followed context: “There is no such thing as a “perfect” pitch deck. Pitch decks are continually refined to optimize for the immediate audience to whom the deck is being presented” [4].