Chocolate Hunt

I was recently introduced to two more phrases at work I hadn't heard before.

Chocolate Hunt: as in, if we allow them the opportunity to voice an opinion about how they'd like that feature changed, they're going to consider it an invitation to go on a chocolate hunt and change everything.  When I figured out what the individual was talking about, it reminded me of the paranoia about a constitutional convention when I was a kid and there was concern if states allowed a constitutional convention to pass the equal rights amendment, we would end up with a thousand additional amendments related to nonsense.  A constitutional chocolate hunt.  I appreciated the coworker who wanted to avoid a chocolate hunt as it would have fallen disproportionately on development in my opinion.

Chinese Walls: I heard this one today uttered by someone from overseas.  "In business, a Chinese wall is an information barrier implemented within a firm to separate and isolate persons who make investment decisions from persons who are privy to undisclosed material information which may influence those decisions. This is a way of avoiding conflict of interest problems. In general, all firms are required to develop, implement, and enforce reasonable policies and procedures to safeguard insider information and to ensure that no improper trading occurs. Although specific procedures are not mandated, adopted practices must be formalized in writing and be appropriate and sufficient. Procedures should address the following areas: education of employees, containment of inside information, restriction of transactions, and trading surveillance." [Wikipedia].  I was excited to read that it has software implications, particularly in conflict interest modeling, which is something I'm involved in.  It's also called an ethical wall or ethical screen in some places, which you can read about in Lawtalk, The Unknown Stories Behind Familiar Legal Expressions (I'll have to put that on my library list), partially do to Justice Low in  Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. v. Superior Court 200 Cal.App.3d 272, 293–294, 245 Cal.Rptr. 873, 887–888 (1988).

"The term has an ethnic focus which many would consider a subtle form of linguistic discrimination. Certainly, the continued use of the term would be insensitive to the ethnic identity of the many persons of Chinese descent. Modern courts should not perpetuate the biases which creep into language from outmoded, and more primitive, ways of thought."

I don't often get a history lesson with the colloquialisms uttered in meetings.  It's exciting to learn something new.

Belton's Braces

Truman's Beer 1666 and 2010

During a management offsite, one of our international executives from the Commonwealth used a colloquialism with which I was unfamiliar.  I was certain I'd heard him say "Belton's Braces" as in a Belton's Braces Approach.  Braces == Suspenders I'm familiar with, but why this particular brand of suspenders was so important left me at a loss.  After digging around online for a while, the closest I could come to a definition was something of a cross between extraneous projects that are nevertheless important to ongoing operations (meat and potatoes) and decorative projects that look good, but have no real utilitarian function. As my two definitions seemed at odds, I was pretty sure both were wrong. Fortunately, I know a co-worker with whom I can verify my assumptions which, in retrospect, was a very good idea.  It would have been embarrassing to use the phrase incorrectly in a meeting with Australia and New Zealand, two of my current partners.

Not only did he correct me, he wrote a corporate blog post about me with an accompanying dinosaur meme graphic he was so amused (I have replaced it with the graphic for an East London beer).  The exec hadn't said Belton's Braces.  He'd said Belt and Braces.  Ah!!!  That makes sense.  Although the allegation that we use Belt and Suspenders in the U.S. is dubious.  I've never heard anyone use that particular phrase before.  But the idea of wearing both a belt and braces as two layers of protection against your pants falling down - something Justin Bieber might do well to learn - as translates to a software project, making sure you implement a few options so as to be sure you won't fail.  I grok that.

So not nearly as interesting as Softly Softly Catchee Monkey in my opinion, but more interesting than to go all pear shaped.  A good colloquialism to know and an excellent example of Chicken and Duck in English.