Honestly, that's really, really bad advice!

If anything, the employee would wind up looking like even more of a total smart-ass and her boss would hate him or her!

What you do is, after your boss says "duplicitous," you say, "Well, Jerry (or whoever) may be duplicative, but he also blah blah blah..."

By saying "duplicative" while merely reiterating your boss's original point, you're correcting him without confrontation. Your boss will then feel embarrassed and go, "Gee, maybe I'll look up both words later..."

It's a great, subtle way to help someone out!

I'm sorry. I've been a boss for a long time. I've had a boss for even longer. In what kind of friggin' workplace is discussing the meaning of a word with your boss tantamount to pulling the pin on a grenade?

Who's your boss? Idi Amin?

Well, I guess in some places it's sign of respect to not be a smart aleck to your boss. Just because it's funny to be one on this forum dosn't mean you should be one overywhere, does it?

Izak:

What you do is, after your boss says "duplicitous," you say, "Well, Jerry (or whoever) may be duplicative, but he also blah blah blah..."

Has it been considered that the boss may really mean what s/he is saying? That so-&-so is being duplicitous? Just a wild thought.

cancun:

Well, I guess in some places it's sign of respect to not be a smart aleck to your boss. Just because it's funny to be one on this forum dosn't mean you should be one overywhere, does it?

Well, in some places it's a sign of respect to allow normal conversations and dialogue amongst the team. Does anyone really respect a leader who's unapproachable? Or, an team member that writes Prudie instead of just speaking up? This has totally been blown out of proportion.

Another reason that it may be a dangerous advice is that (according to the OED) duplicitous can also mean 'Characterized by a twofold structure or arrangement; numerically or physically double.'

How is it "dangerous" for one of your team members to learn that there might be specific industry nomenclature? Or not?

MistPanther: we're going on the givens that are provided by the writer of the question. Maybe the word really is duplicitous, but we can't make that guess, and there's no point in getting into it anyhow.

quietwife: Did it occur to you that maybe the boss really is a turd?

I mean, it is most likely that the writer of the question is a total wuss and perhaps a complete snob to even care in the first place (I mean, honestly, does it really matter?), but I'm just saying from my own experiences that it's a lot less lame to just correct a person by leading through example and showing some initiative, not by being stuck-up and being like, "You're not saying the right word," especially on what appears to be a completely minute subject matter.

But then again, the sort of person who would have to write an advice columnist to figure out such a no-brainer of an issue might be annoying the boss in all sorts of ways other than just that one particular non-problem. Think of how much micromanagement would have to be put into a person of this caliber. With my own boss, I wouldn't be surprised if he used the wrong word pretty much any time he's dealing with over 3 syllables. He's entirely worthless and I understand that.

If my boss used a term like either one, and either I didn't understand it or thought he was using it incorrectly, I'd have said something like "What?" or "Is that even a word?" the first time he used it around me, depending on whether or not I was familiar with the term. This woman must not be too secure about her own intelligence, or she'd have comfortably blown it off or questioned the term long ago.

Since I'm the one everyone yells, "Hey, how do you spell ____?" to, I'd have no fear of challenging an unfamiliar term. (This is not to say I can type, as seen by many of my posts!)

I still say that the best way to handle this (assuming that you have no chance of being promoted over your boss), would be to get him/her one of those "word of the day" calendars where the word that is described is obviously not the right one. This should clue the boss into her/his own vocabulary failures. You should be able to find one at novelty shops.

Also, put it in a box with no return address and leave it with the rest of the mail so that he/she can't trace it back to you....just in case.

Well, the things you learn on this forum! I had to look that one up for myself and you are correct, Boris. I guess that does makes sense. Someone who is duplicitous generally is two-faced. The "two-fold structure" meaning is given as the second meaning, though and most people probably do associate the word duplicitous with deception.

However, there probably are enough context clues to figure out what the guy means. Everyone, including Prudie seems to assume the man is talking about an employee being duplicitous. I doubt he is saying "Jerry, you are so duplicitous!" (In that case he really means it! ) It is probably more like "Jerry, it would be duplicitous to run both report A and report B for the presentation."

If the boss is so great and all that, then there would probably be some discussion of Jerry's proposal. It should then become obvious that the boss thinks both reports give basically the same information so why drag out the presentation? Let's just go with one. Jerry would then give his reasons for presenting both.

The LW should have given an example. These two words are so closely related, people probably know what the boss means. No one else seems to be having a problem with it and there is no mention anywhere of him losing accounts or anything like that. It isn't like they work for an exterminator and he is promising to get rid of a moose instead of a mouse.

Would the LW have said anything then? I have to agree with Quiet and Incog. Why didn't the person bring it up when it was first said? Why toss and turn over such a little thing?

Worse than a mis-used word is a wrong pronounciation. True, there are different dialects/accents and some words have two pronounciations, but other times it is glaringly wrong. I knew someone who thought resume (as what you send in applying for a job) was pronounced the same as resume (to begin again.) "Leading by example" didn't work. Sometimes you just have to say something, but don't wait and wait and wait and wait.

Were all the "wait's" duplicative, duplicitous, redundant, repetitious, etc.? I have to say I have never heard anyone use the word "duplicative."

This was a silly thing to write to an advice columnist about. All of the letters seemed kind of lame this week except the first one. The answers were not too great either.

I think you win on that commentary. My advice I think is a little bit tainted because I've never really cared about people when they use the wrong word or mispronounce things. If it's a noticeable thing, I'll correct them in the subtle fashion explained above, but it's more for the sake of them just knowing in case they're talking to someone in an authoritative position who would care. And being relatively young, I've never been in such an authoritative position and have no real reason to care. Language is about communicating an idea first and foremost, so if the person understands it, the goal has been met.

Correcting him in private is the way to go. Although your method could work, it's still (as you yourself note) still a public embarassment of him. Not to mention the time and effort it would take to find the proper time to pull off the 'correction.' Hell, by then Jerry might get tired of being tagged as "duplicitious" and go over the boss's head and get him fired.

Not hard to be in private in his office and say 'I don't mean to be the grammar police, but you might want to say 'duplicative' instead of 'duplicitious,' boss.'

"Better I should hear that from my admin than a client!"