I really take exception to being congratulated on my passion. I think passion is something really best kept for the bedroom. You can like your work very much indeed ... but passion--no, thank you.
--Financial Times workplace columnist Lucy Kellaway, interviewed by Renee Montagne on NPR's Morning Edition on the subject of mass thank-you emails sent by managers to their employees.
(For more throbbing prose, read "Our Passion Is Your Problem," "Heaving Bosoms in Human Resources," and "And the Worst Are Full of Passionate Intensity.")
"passion" is absolutely my most-despised overused word. the only good thing about its overuse is the hilarious things that people give themselves and others credit for being "passionate" about these days. I can hardly get through a newscast (any flavor) without laughing at some passionate fool... and often a fool "that" is passionate, too - ever notice that people have stopped using "who" and have gone to "that" instead? drives me nuts.
Posted by: cb | January 18, 2007 at 10:16 AM