“The best acronyms, of course, should provide no clue as to their meaning, and yet be bandied about as if the meaning were known to all. Once their meaning is known to all, however, their bureaucratic utility declines: for acronyms are to modern bureaucrats what incantations are to ancient shamans”
Dr. Theodore Dalrymple, fulminating against the British National Health Service.
“Modern bureaucrats” have nothing on blonde shamanesses, sayeth the Fool.
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More on office life - in publishing - taken from a blog I stumbled across:
"Fifteen people around a table discussing acquisitions. Fifteen people: sales, marketing, rights, management and editors of various flavours. A publisher rolls out a silk kelim as good as any you could buy in the souk. Smiles all around.
"I love the colours," suggests a rights person.
"The pattern is stunning," comments a sales person.
"The cartouche to the left is quite the thing," says a management person.
There's a pause. Then someone who knows nothing about carpets suggests that it looks a little on the used side. An equally ignorant character says he saw one similar sold the other week for not much money. Another doesn't like the small fraying on the far edge.
Half an hour later, this wonderful silk kelim is now a pile of threads in the middle of the table, and "the management" suggests wearily. "Do we really want to buy this?"
Did we get better publishing decisions in years gone by when editors were at liberty to buy books over a convivial luncheon at the Ivy with no reference to anyone, let alone a P&L? Yes, sometimes, is the simple answer. "
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