Work, I dub thee Zaphod
I believe that words, their actual phonetic make up, play an important factor in how we perceive things. You know how some people cringe at the word `moist`, you feel more powerful when you yell out `shit`, and `panties`just sounds so unsexy that you never want to take them off again?
The effect of words (in my unscientific opinion), influences the attitudes that we grow up with about the world of work. And it seems to me that our vocabulary has NOT evolved to favour the employee.
Lets start with that one, shall we? Employee. Now say it with me kids…em-ploy-eeeee.
It almost forces you to sneer at the end. It is a nasty word, with a gross little nasally quality at the end.
Now just change the ending – employer. Er. With authority. Doesn`t that just sound so much more powerful?
Next: `work`. It`s a word that can almost slap you across the face.
Instead, now about this: `play`. Isn`t that lovely? It forces you to smile at the end.
What sounds better?
`Hey kids, lets all go work!`
Or…
`Hey kids, let`s all go play!`
See? Maybe so much of our dissatisfaction in the workplace actually stems from a subliminal disinclination hardwired into our minds from infancy by icky words. Or, perhaps we, as a society, gave these things icky sounding names because we actually think they`re icky?
No? Okay, granted, even I think I`m stretching now. However, for the next few weeks, instead of saying that I`m going to do some work, I`m going to say that I`m going to go do some…hmm…Zaphod. Doesn`t that just sound more fun and exciting? I shall let you know if it makes a difference.
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