Here’s the Corporate BS for August 17-23:

August 17–fast track: n. The venue of priority itself, where a project often finds itself because someone was blowing it off but then got a call about it from the boss.

August 18–dialogue: To discuss something in a meaningful way, e.g., “We really need to have a dialogue about this”; a term usually meaning there’s a serious problem or that somebody’s pissed, otherwise he or she wouldn’t use such a fancy word and might just want to “talk” about it.

August 19–summer hours: A slightly shortened workweek from Memorial Day to Labor Day, typically offered to employees of low-paying companies in major metropolitan centers (read: publishing in New York) to compensate them for their paltry salaries, but its real function is to allow execs to get out of the office early on Fridays so they can beat the traffic to the Hamptons or the airport; junior staffers will take the opportunity to get drunk together on margaritas and cold beer a few hours earlier than usual.

August 20–run it up the flagpole: To circulate an idea to see if you can actually get away with it/it will fly; a strategy used when people are too afraid to commit to an idea because they think it might suck and they don’t want to be blamed if it doesn’t work, but also want to be able to take the credit if it’s a grand success.

August 21–frustrated: The state of being pissed off, and doing everything within one’s power not to leap across the table and throttle the human source of frustration; when used by a boss describing himself or herself to a subordinate, may mean “Are you a complete and total moron or just aggressively insolent? We’ve talked about this seven times.”

August 22–naked in front of the client: A metaphor for the state of being unprepared to conduct business; however, some people do find themselves literally naked in front of the client, in which case this is absolutely intentional, as it may be a last-ditch attempt to keep the client.

August 23–give a flavor for: To indicate the essence of something for people too important to sit through being bored to tears by a 20-page PowerPoint presentation; a great way of highlighting sexy details and glossing over serious flaws; very useful in sales pitches.