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The Nose: The Semiotics Of Office Jargon

Connecticut Public Radio | By Colin McEnroe

Published April 8, 2011 at 3:22 PM EDT

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Flickr Creative Commons, D'Arcy Norman

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Chion Wolf

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Chion Wolf

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Chion Wolf

http://cptv.vo.llnwd.net/o2/ypmwebcontent/Commodore%20Skahill/Colin%20McEnroe%20Show%2004-08-2011.mp3

Here is what we propose to talk about on The Nose today - Bewlidering office jargon.

The semiotics of button-down collars. Why anyone should care about the upcoming royal wedding. The possibly overstated report of a gay caveman ...

Is there a thread? I think it's the way we extract meaning from everything. Office jargon grates on us because it seizes our primary system for conveying meaning -- language -- and twists it. Button-down collars? Clothing is full of hidden meaning. The royal wedding -- it means something different to me, an Irish-American who might enjoy owning a Will and Kate toilet seat than it would to someone more respectful of English royalty. The caveman? Archeologists extracting meaning from a slender physical record. The shutdown? Define its meaning, and you win the match.

Leave your comments below, e-mail colin@wnpr.org or Tweet us @wnprcolin.

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The Nose language

Colin McEnroe

Colin McEnroe is a radio host, newspaper columnist, magazine writer, author, playwright, lecturer, moderator, college instructor and occasional singer. Colin can be reached at colin@ctpublic.org.

See stories by Colin McEnroe

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