Run it Up the Flagpole

run it up the flagpole annoying business phrase cartoon

(Run it Up the Flagpole is an annoying business term and is just one of the 212 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Effuse, Confuse, and Overuse detailed in the hilarious must-have guide for every workplace: The 30,000-Pound Gorilla in the Room. Available right now on Amazon.)

Run it Up the Flagpole

You’re an annoying manager and you want additional opinions on an idea, task, or project. Because you’re an annoying manager, you cannot simply say, “Let’s gather additional opinions on this one.”

No, you’re compelled to order that we run it up the flagpole.

This is why we all secretly hate you; you’re making our heads hurt with your senseless jargon.

If there’s one commonality among annoying managers, it’s that they will never go for the direct when there’s an idiom, cliché, analogy, or metaphor to be used. Why would they? Run it up the flagpole sounds so much cooler (in their minds) than “gather opinions” or “see what the team thinks.”

Want to hear this one get really annoying? You may not have noticed, but we guarantee your annoying manager is often redundantly redundant with this one.

Think about it. We’re sure you’ve heard some version of, “Run it up the flagpole to gather some additional opinions and see what the team thinks.”

Ugh. We are going to be sick.

Replacement phrases: Gather opinions

See also: Waterfall; Cascade

The 30,000-Pound Gorilla in the Room is available on Amazon

From TheManager