Polish corporate slang - office Polish decoded

Office and corporate slang for open-space life and team projects.

korpo

the corporate world

A big corporation or corporate life in general. Slightly weary tone. Office slang - it would not appear in formal writing.

Pracuję w korpo od pięciu lat.

I've worked in the corporate world for five years.

fakap

a screw-up

From English 'f-up', declined like a normal Polish noun. Office slang only - and it still carries the original obscenity.

Mieliśmy wczoraj niezły fakap na produkcji.

We had a pretty big screw-up in production yesterday.

dedlajn

deadline

The English word, respelled Polish-style. Office jargon; in neutral Polish say 'termin'.

Dedlajn jest jutro o dwunastej.

The deadline is tomorrow at noon.

asapem

ASAP

English acronym bent into a Polish adverb (instrumental case). Office jargon; neutral Polish would be 'jak najszybciej'.

Wyślij mi ten plik asapem.

Send me that file ASAP.

mityng

a meeting

Respelled 'meeting'. 'Wskoczyć na mityng' = jump on a call. Office jargon; the ordinary word is 'spotkanie'.

Mam mityng o dziesiątej.

I've got a meeting at ten.

ficzer

a feature

Product/dev slang from English 'feature'. Team jargon; neutral Polish is 'funkcja'.

Wypuszczamy nowy ficzer w przyszłym tygodniu.

We're shipping a new feature next week.

harować

to slave away

Aspect pair: harować (impf only)

To work exhaustingly hard.

Haruję nad tym raportem od rana.

I've been slaving over this report since morning.

tyrać

to toil

Aspect pair: tyrać (impf only)

Near-synonym of 'harować', equally casual. A woman says: Tyrałam.

Tyrałem nad tym przez cały weekend.

I toiled over this all weekend.

ogarnąć temat

to handle it

Aspect pair: ogarniać / ogarnąć temat

To take care of a task or get on top of an issue.

Spokojnie, ogarnę ten temat do piątku.

Relax, I'll handle this by Friday.

Mordor

Mordor (Warsaw's Służewiec office district)

The office-tower zone around Domaniewska in Warsaw's Służewiec, named after Tolkien's Mordor for its traffic and crowds. It names that district - it is not a general Polish word for any business district.

Znowu straszne korki w drodze do Mordoru.

Terrible traffic on the way to Mordor again.

L4

sick leave

Pronounced 'el-cztery'. Colloquial name for a doctor's sick note.

Czuję się fatalnie, biorę L4.

I feel awful, I'm taking sick leave.

urlop na żądanie

leave on demand

A real labour-law entitlement, in slang just 'użet' (UŻ). A woman says: Zaspałam.

Zaspałem, biorę urlop na żądanie.

I overslept, I'm taking leave on demand.

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