Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Sports metaphors a la The Office: A little something fun for a Tuesday morning...

Enough about actual sports for a minute. I was so tired and discouraged last night that I fell asleep before the end of the Yankee game anyway. The following is from the season 2 episode of "The Office" called "Boys and Girls" when Jan, from corporate, gives a "women in the workplace" seminar to the women of the office, in which she explains sports metaphors used in the workplace that may or may not be familiar to the women. I always laugh, although it is the delivery, particularly Mindy Kaling as Kelly, that truly sells this scene for me. Anyway, enjoy!

Jan Levinson-Gould: Sports metaphors are one of the ways women feel left out of the language of the office. Now, I know this might sound silly, but many women ask to go over it. So, fumble means…

Phyllis: Mistake.

Meredith: Slip.

Jan Levinson-Gould: Right. Par for the course is a golf term. It means right on track. Uh, below par means worse. Wait, that should mean better. That doesn’t make sense.

Kelly Kapoor: What about second base? Like, if Michael said he got to second base with you? Does that mean you, like, closed a deal?

Jan Levinson-Gould: Excuse me?

Kelly Kapoor: I mean, that’s a baseball term, right?

Jan Levinson-Gould: I don’t know what… Michael was… talking about, I don’t know.

Kelly Kapoor: [turns to the camera and winks]

No comments:

Post a Comment