Still want more proof?
From the The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, “This expression originated about 1940 in Britain and for a time invariably used couldn’t. About 1960 could was occasionally substituted, and today both versions are used with approximately equal frequency, despite their being antonyms.”
While we all learned about inside voices from our parents and teachers, I’m surprised how easy it is to forget. I am excitable and can have problems with volume control when I’m particularly amped up. It has become less of a problem as I’ve gotten older, but I admit, I can still forget.
Whether you work in a cubicle farm or are lucky enough to have separate offices, yelling or loudly talking to others can be very disrupting to those around you. Some of your co-workers might be sound sensitive or have a headache. At the very least other people yelling and talking loudly is distracting.
Laughter is a great way to diffuse a situation, let people know you aren’t perfect and bond.
Inevitably, I am going to make a mistake. I’m going to let spell check change a word into something else, I’m going to spill coffee all over a white shirt first thing in the morning, but as long as I can laugh at myself, I am not going to care that others are laughing at me.
Recently, I mistook a new co-worker for another new co-worker. The only similarity between the two is they have the same name. When I realized my mistake, we both had a good laugh about it and moved on. It was a bonding experience we wouldn’t have had if I hadn’t mistaken her identity.
Not to mention that laughing also keeps me from dwelling on the mistake I made.
Do you laugh at yourself? When?
Everyone has had an experience in elementary school where someone was left out. Left out of a birthday invitation or left out of a game on the playground. It sucked as a child and it’s even more hurtful and damaging as an adult.
Continued exclusion of your co-workers creates a hostile work environment for everyone.
It wasn’t fair to exclude people as a child. If your parents were anything like mine, you probably got scolded for excluding them, regardless of your reasons. It is even more unfair and beyond that, disrespectful to exclude people as an adult.
If you are going to invite the whole office to a party or get together, make sure you invite the whole office. Even the people you don’t necessarily like. Not only will it go toward creating a goodwill bridge with that person, but also you might find you like them a lot better in the non-office setting.
He had a tweet a few weeks ago that made me laugh at first and then cringe a little as I started noticing it in various places and different contexts.
Woodruff’s tweet was, “btw, nothing will ‘phase’ you unless you are on a Star Trek set. However, something might or might not ‘faze’ you.”
Faze according to merriam-webster.com is an “alteration of feeze to drive away, frighten, from Middle English fesen, from Old English fēsian to drive away” as of 1830 it means “to disturb the composure of.”
Phase “is a noun or verb having to do with an aspect of something.” You can phase something in or go through a phase.
So unless you’re writing science fiction avoid using phase to mean upset.