In the daily life of corporate America, we imagine that countless idioms and turns of phrases are butchered on a daily basis. Now Mike O’Brien has the proof.
O’Brien, a recently retired Ford sales executive, kept track of every malapropism he’s heard uttered by his co-workers since 2014. According to The Wall Street Journal, that added up to 2,229 language flubs, which he listed on whiteboards for all to see.
The violations, dubbed Board Words, were separated into categories, including animals and food. Examples include “We need to talk about the elephant in the closet” and “Too many cooks in the soup.”
One colleague in particular was responsible for 184 entries, three of which specifically related to sayings involving ducks.
O’Brien himself was not immune from the board and has notched over 100 violations reported by co-workers. We imagine they then landed on the board themselves by declaring, “How the turn tables.”