02/ 04/ 2007
by Harvey King
I have a friend who writes for TV and film. He stays very busy and has a good career, but he's never had a big hit. Recently, his agent called to praise something my friend had written: "This could be the next 'Titanic,' " the agent exclaimed.
When he called me to report his agent's excitement, I jokingly asked, "Are you sure he was talking about the movie and not the ship?"
Words and phrases don't always mean what you think they mean. This is especially true when it comes to the narrow niche professions in which we small-business owners spend our days. All small groups have their own private jargon. Experts say this is a good thing--that community jargon fosters a sense of belonging and provides shortcuts so we may efficiently speak with others who have similar expertise and interests.
However, a small group of words and phrases can be especially confusing. These are terms that can mean the opposite of what they sound like they mean. Grammar lovers will recognize them as both homonyms (words spelled alike with different meanings) and antonyms (word pairs that are opposite). Some linguists have dubbed these terms "auto-antonyms," but I call them train wrecks waiting to happen.
In business, a typical auto-antonym is the word "hack," which can mean--take your pick--the good or bad person who comes up with an elegant, malicious or sloppy way to do something.
In a business situation, auto-antonyms can sneak up on you. Take the word "downhill," for example. Football coaches love downhill blockers. Skiers look forward to heading downhill. But in business, you never want to be at that spot from which everything to come is "all downhill."
In business, if the response to your sales pitch is cool, it isn't cool. When one of your young employees says something is "terrific" or "sick" it can be, depending on intonation, "not terrific" or, if you're lucky, very cool in a healthy way. Speaking of health, in business, "viral" is something good if it has to do with marketing and bad if it has to do with software or avian flu.
In business, the word "box" can be an especially troublesome auto-antonym. A "big box" sounds like something good (remember Christmas morning), but those who run big boxes rarely boast about it. In business, we're encouraged to think outside the box. However, when I'm selling something to a customer, they want a discount if the product has been taken out of the box. Being boxed-in sounds like something bad unless, that is, it's a boxed set.
In business, there are dozens of books about how to get people to say "yes." But the last thing you want to be is a "yes-man." Indeed, in business, the most confusing auto-antonyms are the words "yes," which can mean "no," and vice-versa.
Are you confused? Tell me about it. By which I mean, of course, don't tell me about it.
