These notes were originally posted, in a somewhat different form, on David Squires’s LinkedIn account. Follow David on LinkedIn.
Managers (and moms**) absolutely LOVE their argumentative verbs.
“She sashayed in at 9:15.”
Did she? Runway-style through the cubicle farm? Or did she just walk in at 9:15?
“He was lollygagging by the copier.”
Or was he standing there waiting for his copies? Like a person does. At a copier.
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“They gallivanted off for a two-hour lunch.”
Was there frolicking? Or did they just come back late?
These are argumentative verbs. They smuggle a judgment into a description. And they’re everywhere — performance reviews, hallway venting, Slack messages to HR.
Catch it in yourself first. You didn’t see someone “parade around” the office. You saw them walking. Say that. Using the argumentative word doesn’t make you an iota more convincing.
Then catch it in others. When one of your team leaders says someone was “lounging” in the break room, just ask: “Were they lounging? Or were they just sitting?” That one question can change the conversation.
Look — if someone took a long lunch, address it. But you shouldn’t need a hyped-up verb to do it.
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QUESTION: (ANSWER IN THE COMMENTS BELOW): What argumentative verbs do you find yourself using? And which ones do you find others using to win your support in an argument?
** This post was partly inspired by my beloved mother, who set unbreakable world records for use of the words “gallivanting” and “lollygagging” during my youth in the 1970s and 80s.
