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The 69 Words GM Employees Can Never Say

Posted by timothy on from the ok-and-you-can't-say-that-number-either dept.

bizwriter (1064470) writes "General Motors put together its take on a George Carlin list of words you can't say. Engineering employees were shown 69 words and phrases that were not to be used in emails, presentations, or memos. They include: defect, defective, safety, safety related, dangerous, bad, and critical. You know, words that the average person, in the context of the millions of cars that GM has recalled, might understand as indicative of underlying problems at the company. Oh, terribly sorry, 'problem' was on the list as well."

15 of 373 comments (clear)

  1. Corporate speak by just_another_sean · · Score: 5, Funny

    Of course they don't need to use any of those words. Everyone knows GM vehicles are doubleplusgood!

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    Creationist Textbook Stickers Declared Unconstitutional by CowboyNeal
    1. Re:Corporate speak by penix1 · · Score: 5, Informative

      The other alternative for protecting yourself from lawsuits (besides never using the words the lawyers will find) is to delete all copies of all emails, memos, and presentations that are more than 6 months old. I have heard about a company that tries to use this method to reduce its legal exposure.

      There's a better alternative... Don't make fucked up shit that has to be recalled to protect people's lives. If a recall is necessary, do it as soon as the problem is identified. Don't wait for years to pass in the typical bean counter fashion in the hopes that less people will be hurt than product sold. Don't cover it up and pretend the problem never existed.

      In short, do the right thing and fix the damned thing before more people lose their lives. That is, after all, what we are talking about with most car recalls.

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  2. The person who made the ppt was immediately fired by barlevg · · Score: 5, Funny

    For using all 69 words. No exceptions, right?

  3. words by serviscope_minor · · Score: 5, Funny

    I like how the article explains to us the meaning behind the words Hindenburg and Titanic.

    You know just in case we couldn't picture an engineer likening the powder keg of a rolling sarcophagus spontansously combusting in an apocalyptic grenadelike explosion, mangling and impaling the hapless ocupants like Curt Cobain flying the Challenger into the Hindenburg.

    On the plus side you could use the result to cook you're toast at the end of it all.

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    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  4. When you gag the enginers ... by johnjaydk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You get a Challenger disaster.

    In my experience, You have to use exactly these words in order to get management to take problems serious. Turns out it was because they put management in a legal bind.

    Any engineer who follows GM's edict should be flogged. Bad stuff happens because good men do nothing.

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    TCAP-Abort
    1. Re:When you gag the enginers ... by jellomizer · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Playing devils advocate here

      However the engineer, is often overly cautious, to the extreme, and sometimes have a fit if they don't get there way, and having engineers over exaggerating to get their point across isn't unheard of.

      The words seem to be "Power Words" terms that get people to agree without only on an emotional basis. So an engineer can use them to get his way, without really backing himself up. And if his idea gets rejected and the media gets their hands on the email, there is a huge PR problem, where the email is taken out of contexts.

      Lets just say this discussion was about the vanity mirror, the engineer wants it to be bolted on, vs. a plastic clip. His design is superior because the bolts will last longer. However other engineers find the plastic clip is good enough, and looks better. The engineer who proposes the bolts may fill a bit annoyed that they went with an other design. So he may complain to protest his point, and over emphasize the risks of the plastic clips, and toss in a few of those power words. To try to get his way. Then a few years down the line, there is an unrelated problem with the car, and there is a law suit. They find emails from an engineer discussing doom and gloom. Now the media will have a field day with that. Even though it was unrelated.

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      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    2. Re:When you gag the enginers ... by bigpat · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Exactly. The Thiokol engineers knew that the air temperature at the launch pad was below the lower range operating temperature of the O Rings which was 40 degrees (or 50 degrees for the system as a whole). The O rings themselves were certified down to 40 degrees but the engineers were bullied by management who wanted proof that the system would fail rather than the other way around and then when the engineers couldn't prove that it would fail they were overruled. I think the comments that it would be "away from goodness" was just a really impotent way of saying something like "there was a potentially increased risk that the rocket would explode that can not be quantified because of lack of data", but saying the rocket might explode in such blunt language was probably a quick ticket to being fired shortly afterwards and the engineers probably knew that.

      Language matters and the fact that GM was more worried about getting sued than about engineers accurately conveying concerns over safety is damning. GM is supposedly a new company after bankruptcy. Is it?

  5. So how to report an actual problem? by Immerman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Rejoice! The fuel tank exhibits a delightful ability to consistently emit large cheerful conflations of thermal exuberance in response to mild percussive excitation. We recommend modifying the roof-rack to double as a full-length barbeque grill to maximize the occupants appreciation of this fortuitous feature.

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    --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    1. Re:So how to report an actual problem? by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "Synergies"? Nope.
      "Paradigm"? Absent.
      "Holistic approach"? No.
      Dude, there isn't a "proactive" in there anywhere.

      Now, if you'd have said this was a press release from Pyongyang, I'd have agreed with you.

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      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    2. Re:So how to report an actual problem? by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Funny

      And no "cloud" either, so he ain't no consultant material.

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      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  6. It's the lawyers by LarryWMSN · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you've ever been deposed as part of a lawsuit, the lawyer will go through every email and key on those particular words to present them is the worst possible light. I had to go through this once and spent three days, basically, justifying every word I used. Now when a customer comes to me and says they have a problem or something is not working, I will ask, "what behavior are you expecting to see and what are you seeing?" When we resolve the "problem", we simply say they should see the expected behavior now and please get back to us if they don't. It sucks but that's the reality.

    GM definitely knew they had problems and didn't fix them, but I'm sure there were many emails that were unrelated to their intentional disregard to the known problems that they had to defend along the way. Every little sentence or word that someone has to justify means more time with the lawyers racking up fees. You can't skirt around real problems with the change in words, but it makes it harder for the lawyers to bring in unrelated or insignificant facts into the mix.

  7. Re:Note to myself: by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sure, "cataclysmic" doesn't belong in an engineering email, but "always", "never", "critical", "serious", "safety", "safety-related", "dangerous" and (best of all, IMO) "problem"? That isn't engineers avoiding hyperbole, that's lawyers avoiding the truth.

  8. Nice view from the cheap seats? by sjbe · · Score: 5, Informative

    I prefer companies that are open about their problems than companies that try to hide problems with "disguised words".

    Easy to say when you are not the one at the pointy end of a multi-billion dollar lawsuit. Lots of people have plenty of courage in a semi-anonymous internet post. While I agree with you in principle the way the laws are written it isn't nearly as simple as you or I think it should be. As much as I'd like to see engineers speaking freely about problems, the consequences of doing so can be catastrophic when they don't know what they are doing. And I don't know too many engineers who are up to date on their product liability law.

    Fact is that NO lawyer worth his retainer would agree with you. The number of ways in which employees can get a company in serious financial trouble through even the most honest attempts to solve problems is HUGE. Employees can agree to contracts, "admit" to wrongdoing (even when there wasn't any), etc. There are VERY good reasons why companies tend to only let a few, carefully selected people who know what they are doing speak for the company. I've worked as an engineer at a large auto company and I had to get special permission to give a technical talk just due to the potential liability and trade secret issues involved.

  9. Re:Note to myself: by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 5, Funny

    Witness how the GM list doesn't actually subsume George Carlin's list, i.e., while a GM engineer isn't allowed to write "our cars are dangerous", he can opt for "our cars are shit" instead.

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    Ezekiel 23:20
  10. Re:Note to myself: by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Actually, Apple has a set of forbidden words. Macs don't crash or hang, they "unexpectedly quit" or "stop responding." Things are not "supported", they are "compatible." However nothing is incompatible--they just don't work with Macs.