n.05_September_October.2009.Englisch._

AUTHENTieENGLISHlANGUAGE•

AlMUTKÖSTERisaseniorlecturerin Englishatthe

UniversityofBirminghamandauthorofInvestigating

Worl<.placeDiscourse(Routledge,ISBN978-0·415-

36471-3,(24.99),

Doanexen:iseonthislopicOftBusinessSpotlightAudio

Dialogue 2

Paul:Yeah. Yourten-and-a-half-thousand ordertrom

Phoenix.Itwastwoanda halfthousand.

Sam:No!Hesaidten,tenanda half!That'swhathesaid.

Paul:And1'11findyousomecottonbudssocn,allright?

PaulteasesSambysayinghewillgethirnsomecotton

budstocleanhisears.Althoughthisis a joke,it is alsoa

criticismofSam'sactions.Syusinghumour,PaulisabJe

tocriticizethesalesrepinanindirectandfriendlyway.

Dialogue 3

Val: You'reprobablyboththesamestarsign,Sid...

Sid: Howcan...howcanI jumpinto...What?

Val: I saidyou'rebothprobablythesamestarsign.

Sid: Oh,Godhelpus!

Val: You'renot:Iau..ru..s,areyou?

Sid: No!Whydoyouputme...Whyisiteverytimewe

havea conflicthere,thatI'mpartlyresponsibleforit?

Inthiscase,insteadofjoininginthejoke,Sidgetseven

angrier.HethinksValis tryingtoblamehimfortheprob-

lembymakinghirn"partlyresponsible"fortheconflkt

whichhasemerged. []I

3,Solvinga problem

Humourcanalsobeused 10 helpsolvea problem.Ifpeo-

piearea.!i.U.ißg,humourcanJ.i.&.!:lkrrtheatmosphere,and

sohelptomakepeoplemorecooperativeinfindinga solu-

tion.However,thisisn'talwayssuccessful.Inthethird

dialogue,Sid,whoownsa smallcompany,andhisoffice

manager.Val,arediscussinga disputewitha customer.

Thediscussionhasbecomevery~,andValtriesto

lightentheatmospherebymakinga jokeaboutSid's~

W,sayingthatshethinksit mighty.'ellbethesameas

thecustomer's:

streiten

guteBeziehungen(zu

jmdm.';lufbauen

Watle5tabchen

jmdn.inVerlegenheitbril@!!

Verbiebsleiler(in)

Aullendienstmltarbeitl'rlinl

Selbstironie.SictKe~

Herabsetzen

Slernzeichen

Arbeitsgruppe,Sondereinheit

Stier

jmdn.aufziehen

-----'-lw=.aufheitern,etw.auf-

lockern

BOroleitetiin)

MitHumorkannsomancheschwierigeSituationgerettet

werden.AlMUTKOSTERgibtIhneneinpaartypischeBeispiele.

A

Ithoughbusinessis usuallythoughttobenolaughing

~,peopleoftenusehumourwithcolleaguesand

businesspartners.Humourisanimportanttoolforcreat-

inga friendlyatmosphereandbuildingraooort.Humour

canalsobeusedtodealwithproblemsatwork.

USING HUMOUR AT WO K

2.Criticizingsomeone

Hurnourcaoalsobeusedtocriticizeothers.Inoursecond

dialogue,Paul,a salesmanager,criticizesajunior.saJ..e..s

~, Sam,formisunderstandingtheamountofanorder

thathetookoverthetelephone.Therealamountwastwo

anda halfthousand,nottenanda halfthousand.asSam

hadthought.

1. Softeningcriticism
   Oneformofhumouris self-deorecation.Thisiswhenyou
   jokinglysaysomethingnegativeaboutyourself.Self-
   deprecationcanbeusedtotrytosoftenanycriticismyou
   thinkyoumightreceivefrom,say,abossorcolleague.
   Inourfirstdialogue,Amyknowsthatshewillnothave
   someworkreadyfora meeting.Byjokingaboutit,she
   hopeshercoileague,Rob,"won'thavetoembarrass"her.

Dialogue 1

Amy:So,even if 1 seeyouatthemarketingtaskforce

meeting,anddon'thavemythings[ready],youwon't

havetoembarrassme.

Rob:Forgiveyou,anyway,yes.

Amy'sstralegyofusinghumourworks,becauseRob

joinsinthejokeby~herthathewill"forgiveyou,

anyway",althoughherworil:is notready.Thisshowsthathe

is notannoyed,andthat,perhaps,itjusldoesn'tmatter.

;lrgueI'Q;gju:J

bufldrapport(wlthSb.)I,blldfi':'pJ:!

cottonhud['kot"llh,,<11UK

embarrasssb.hm'bzr~sl

heated['hi:lld)

juniorl'rlJu:ni;lJ

I;lughlngmaUer:beno-

!.Iu:fll.l'moc(;,]

lightens"th".'iI"'";;'"'~~I'-

starsign{'SIU:.......nl

taskforcel'IQ:skfJ:s]

Taurus['I~:rJS]

leasesb.[tb;]

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5/2009 BusinessSJXIlIigbI 85