I took a look at our documents and “Spruced them up” for us
Posted by kalitarios@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 34 comments
Today I was updating my technical documents for my team. I made tons of changes and got everything on the same style sheet, easier to read, got rid of obsolete info, and saved everything in the new format.
Then I held a quick meeting with my team and made the comment that I took a look at our documentation and spruced it up for us. Zero out of 16 people on the team had any idea what I was talking about. Someone finally asked me “what does spruced mean?”
Anyone else use an old term that seems normal to us but requires explanation to others? I’m not talking about movie quotes or inside jokes/comments. I mean using a term like “spruced” or “scoffed” etc. and someone has to ask you “what does that word mean?”
I felt like Matt Damon at the end of Saving Private Ryan on the phone, aging on the spot.
Was this a senior moment or am I just out of touch?
Darkj@reddit
Fir real?
PJFrye@reddit
I wood hope so!
CawlinAlcarz@reddit
ICWUTUDIDTHAR!
rangeo@reddit
Your team needs to read
regprenticer@reddit
To deep six something, which means to get rid of it permanently.
In the 90s I worked with a few people who were old enough to have served in WW2. Those with naval experience would often say they would "deep six" something - back then they would just throw rubbish overboard and if it sank 6 fathoms (about 10 meters) it was gone forever.
kalitarios@reddit (OP)
I got into an argument with someone online over this term when someone said “86 it”
i guess there’s a deep 6 to discard something
an 86 as a restaurant term
and someone being 6 feet under in the ground (deceased)
MaximumJones@reddit
To 86 something means to get rid of something. It originated during prohibition when lookouts would tell club owners to "86 the customers" because police were on their way.
CawlinAlcarz@reddit
How ironic is it that the younger generations often seem to fit the definition of "troglodyte"... which makes me wonder if it's not us who are the troglodytes...
Konklar@reddit
More like Philistines, We're in the way of the chosen people.
MaximumJones@reddit
That phrase has literally been around since the 14 century. How do they not know it?
Origin of "Spruce it up"
WaterwingsDavid@reddit
I know this term. Im a bit eccentric so I enjoy using unusual or folksy terms. Sometimes I'll say stuff like: I'm as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs!
Craiss@reddit
I've almost entirely stopped using slang and anything similar (also limit metaphors) at work because of situations like this.
I desperately want to face-palm when I slip up and get blank stares for some casual comment that just isn't even important enough for me to want to explain.
It makes a lot more sense to me why the older people I grew up around spoke so "properly."
I set the door codes to our office to 1337 as a joke while we were waiting for the new hardware to be installed. I died a little when I had to explain that to everyone, even the people in my own age range.
Coffee_24-7@reddit
What's 1337 mean?
thiswasyouridea@reddit
LEET. I can see that being pretty obscure nowadays.
lectroid@reddit
Hah. U r dumz0rz!!!1eleventy!
nevermore0069@reddit
Another great example of gamer speak!
nevermore0069@reddit
It's gamer speak for "leet" which is slang for "elite," usually used sarcastically, sardonically, or satirically either for self-derision or derisve to another person.
kalitarios@reddit (OP)
Pwned
Craiss@reddit
Alchemister5@reddit
Leet.
xlwristguy@reddit
Who knows what’s right/wrong these days. Spruce/sprucing/spruced seems OK to me…let the youngins translate your verbiage on their “pocket computers” (there’s probably an app for that…lol).
My wife uses the term “zhuzh”…
To zhuzh up (also spelled zhoosh or jeuje) means to improve the appearance, style, or flavor of something through a small, thoughtful addition or adjustment.
thiswasyouridea@reddit
I learned that term from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
lectroid@reddit
“Zhuzh” is really interesting. It’s a word from polari that crossed into the mainstream.
Polari is a UK slang that’s very old, going back to at least the 19th century, primarily associated w/ gay subculture. It’s pretty fascinating.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polari?wprov=sfti1#
0bfu5cator@reddit
oh wow, I always assumed it was Yiddish
bytor1066@reddit
You can add Gussy.
krschob@reddit
cam to say - replaced by “zhuzh” but didn't know how I was going to spell it.
PositiveStress8888@reddit
You think that's bad I watched and influencer get blown away by hurricane Katrina flooding new Orleans.
I wasn't alive for the Hindenburg but I knew what happend
kalitarios@reddit (OP)
I got into an argument with someone online over this term when someone said “86 it”
i guess there’s a deep 6 to discard something
an 86 as a restaurant term
and someone being 6 feet under in the ground (deceased)
Historical_Monk_6118@reddit
I put a picture of a cowboy next to a bit about poor quality electrical installations and presented it to automotive apprentices... nobody had heard of cowboy builders
Mudlark-000@reddit
I had many of my formative years in a home daycare that had the local UHF channel up on the tv at all times. My speech is flecked with vocabulary from 50’s sitcoms, Looney Tunes cartoons from the 30’s to 60’s, and Japanese Kaiju movies. I also grew up with many Jewish friends, so plenty of Yiddish in there as well. I had plenty of explaining to do when I lived overseas and spoke around non-native English speakers. Heck, I seem to end up explaining some phrase or other at least once a week…
Retracnic@reddit
I know what the term means, however being an engineer, I'd look over the top of my glasses at you and ask "What exactly did you spruce up?"
Bright_Broccoli1844@reddit
I am not changing my stand English vocabulary for adults who are native English speakers. They can ask me or look it up. It's good to learn new vocabulary words.
CalmCupcake2@reddit
Not the same but I realized that my GenZed coworkers have a complely different understanding of the term 'punk' than I do.
Which means I have to stop using it with students too - I (attempt to) teach critical thinking, fake news etc, so that'll be hard.
Tommy_Vercetti-4406@reddit
Interesting. I've encountered that with my children from time to time. But I cannot recall a specific word at the moment. Language does shift over time. Read literature from the early 20th century and there is certain to be words we didn't use in the 80s. You witnessed a real time shift in linguistics.