BS

I stumbled upon this word while reading Jack Welch's 'Straight from the Gut'. He has used it many times, esp. referring to the statements made by his executives. Now what does that mean ? As is the case with other slangs, Dictionary couldn't answer my question. Now, I mulled over it for a while and came up with an acronym of my own invention, BS stands for Business Strategy.

The immense gratification of the self-acquired knowledge didn't last long. While I was orkutting, I happened to come across this mysterious term again. Still confident that it is going to be a positive word, a must-know for an MBA, I innocently asked my to-be-MBA-classmate to enlighten me. And she replied instantly : 'Bull Shit'.

What ?!! Is that so simple, so mean and so disgraceful a word ? And now a person as sophisticated as Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE, has used it in his own autobiography. Is it such a common phrase. This isn't something I consider as a part of the so called parliamentary language. And here I was, a fool considering all kinds of fancy alternatives for the word.

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Contemplating the experience, I found many such words all around me, used in a very innocuous manner, though the words themselves are mean and vulgar, atleast literally. Screw-up, frigging, sucks, heck, goddamned -- all these words are ubiquitous in our daily lives. We use them so freely, so normally, that many of us aren't even aware of the literal meanings. Some managers even go to the level of using the words asshole, bitch et al. All these are used by highly qualified people even in the boardrooms. And very comfortably.

Now, when these words are translated into Telugu, I would never ever use them. I can't even mention those words here, for my own comfort as well as urs. People who use these words in telugu at social occassions are treated as the uncouth. No cultured and well-mannered person would use such words in public.

But when the same words, which literally are as gross, are used in English, people don't cringe. They take it as a part of the colloquial vocabulary. Well, I myself did not feel even the slightest hesitation while mentioning the words here. I use them so frequently that they no more seem to be the part of lingo of the crass.

Now where does the difference lie ? Does the use of foreign language gloss the grossness ? Or is it bcoz of the open manner in which these words are used by civilized people ? Or were they used so often that they became part of everyday speech ? Whatever the reason is, people use them so effortlessly, and most of them aren't even aware of the meaning.

It's funny how things so gross in our culture seem posh in foreign culture.