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Day’?s Verse:
A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
Proverbs 14:30
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Some things you never hear outside of work, terms that range from company- and even group-specific to industry-wide. These terms form a seemingly impenetrable wall for new hires, who have to learn almost a new language as they join the workforce at their new company. Charles River Labs is no different; acronyms abound, and are often strung together to form strange and incomprehensible phrases. Examples of these acronyms include:

SOP – Standard Operating Procedure
LM – Laboratory Method
FR – Final Report
DR – Draft Report
FRA – Final Report Amendment
BAC – Bioanalytical Chemistry
CRL-MA – Charles River Laboratories, Massachusetts

Those and other acronyms I expect. They come with the job. Unexpectedly, though, I began to encounter certain phrasing or word usage that I had never seen before but seem endemic to my workplace. These phrases and odd usages include:

X and Y, respectively.
Per Y’s request…
The X of Y has been Z (and other rampant unprotected passive tense use, often combined with wordiness – a potentially dangerous combination)
Random Inappropriate Capitalization
QCing (and other verb-izing of acronyms)

I think I will keep adding to this list as these usages occur. What are some strange phrases, words, or acronyms you encounter only at work (or what passes for work)?