Essential NEW WORDS FOR 2004 editions for the work-place vocabulary:

BLAMESTORMING

Sitting around in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible.

CUBE FARM

An office filled with cubicles.

PRAIRIE DOGGING

When someone yells or drops something loudly in a cube farm, and people's heads pop up over the walls to see what's going on. (This also applies to applause from a promotion because there may be cake.)

MOUSE POTATO

The on-line, wired generation's answer to the couch potato.

STRESS PUPPY

A person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and whiny.

XEROX SUBSIDY

Euphemism for swiping free photocopies from one's workplace.

PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE

The fine art of whacking an electronic device to get it to work again.

ADMINISPHERE

The organizational layers beginning just above the rank and file. Decisions that fall from the "adminisphere" are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve. This is often affiliated with the dreaded "administrivia" - needless paperwork and processes.

404

Someone who's clueless. From the World Wide Web error message "404 Not Found," meaning that the requested document could not be located.

OHNOSECOND

That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you've just made a BIG mistake (e.g. you've hit 'reply all').