When metaphors, adages, maxims, and idioms become clichés and words sound similar, it’s easy for people to mix them up, and the resulting jumble can add a touch of levity to otherwise heavy conversations. As the Wall Street Journal reports, that’s exactly why recently retired Ford executive Mike O’Brien decided to keep track of groan/laugh-worthy goofs across several dry-erase boards, data which was then turned into a spreadsheet.
Collected from 2014 up to O’Brien’s retirement last month, the recorded mixed metaphors and malapropisms reportedly tally in at 2,229, and they range from mildly amusing to knee-slappingly hilarious. A digital compilation was O’Brien’s parting gift to colleagues, but the boards certainly weren’t a secret operation. As the Wall Street Journal writes:
The list became so known—and feared—that one executive cursed O’Brien’s name in a meeting after tripping up on an expression. Violators could appeal their inclusion but success was rare. And nobody was above a grammatical roasting: Ford CEO Jim Farley twice made the list.
Indeed, this certainly seems like an equal-opportunity repository, and O’Brien himself earned a podium on the list, squeaking in at number three. As you might expect, not everyone was reportedly thrilled to end up on the board, and some data was reportedly anonymized, but the side-quest seemed to become something of an office tradition.
While we don’t have a full picture of everything on the list, several linguistic pause moments published in the Wall Street Journal stick out to me, like the hilariously redundant “I’m not trying to beat a dead horse to death,” the definitely not food safety-approved “Too many cooks in the soup,” and the unintentionally macabre “He’s going to be so happy he’ll be like a canary in a coal mine!” That last one reportedly came courtesy of marketing manager Mike Murphy, leader of the board.
Oh, and there’s more. Photos in the Wall Street Journal depict the extensive collection of boards, full of sayings like the strange and off-putting “Chew this elephant off,” the amusing “Mazel tov cocktail,” both “smartest knife in the drawer” and “smartest tool in the shed,” the trippy “I hear an aftertaste,” and the borderline medieval “flush it out the window.” [Ed note: I’m down the rabbit hole on this now. “No holds bar;” “If it ain’t broke, don’t break it;” “Point of view standpoint” … so much gold! – Pete]
Regardless, recording an infraction certainly seemed like it could shift the tone of things, especially when the moment of spoken strangeness comes from a division director. As the Wall Street Journal wrote:
Once in a meeting, Ford’s then-head of U.S. sales, Andrew Frick, was making a point about a sales promotion: “We have a better program, but the competition has more foot on the ground,” he said. Sensing the stumble, he looked up at O’Brien, laughing. “Wait, is it ‘feet on the ground’? Dammit O’Brien!”
Still, the board of words seems to have had just the right sort of internal impact. As former Ford division director and current S&P Global enterprise business executive director Scott Cauvel wrote on LinkedIn:
While some could see this as a fluff piece, or even possibly more negatively as a waste or a drain on productivity at a historic but often-rebuilding automaker, I’d tell you it was exactly the opposite. I watched and participated first-hand as this actively, routinely and positively affected team morale, collaboration, commaradrie and productivity. This levity bonded everyone together … to work harder, to work smarter, and along the way, find a deeper appreciation & respect for their teammates.
As far as largely harmless ways to keep one’s self amused in the office go, this has to be one of the best. If I had a list like this, I’d always know I could turn to it for a chuckle, and sometimes a little light-hearted laughter is exactly what you need.
Top graphic credit: Ford
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The post One Ford Executive Created A List Of Mixed Metaphors And Malaprops Heard Around The Office And It’s Hilarious appeared first on The Autopian.
