What does that Canadian attendee mean when he tells you to “keep your stick on the ice”? If your American attendee told you she was going to “take the dog” to get to the meeting, should you look into pet-friendly housing?

The answers to these and many, many more questions about catchwords, idioms, and slang from countries around the world can be found at WhatDoesThatMean.com. Plus, it's just fun to poke around to see all the different buzzwords.

More Fun with Buzzwords

Did you know that there is a Web site devoted to hunting down important-sounding words or phrases and bringing them down to reality? That's what the fun folks at BuzzWhack.com do every day. Here are a few examples:

POWERPOINT SINGALONG A presentation read verbatim from the slides without observations, notes, comments or asides of any kind. Monotone optional, but not required.
Nominated by Mark Simon

PENCILATOR: Meeting facilitator's assistant. Person given the “responsibility” of taking notes on the big flip chart during meetings.
Nominated by Steven Whittle

PEANUT-BUTTER SPREAD: The act of taking meager resources (budget, staff, etc.) and spreading them as thin as possible to cover the most projects.
Nominated by Heather Coburn-Schill

MANDATORY FUN: A celebratory business event that holds no interest for you but requires attendance since names are being taken.
Nominated by Chris Lange

And of course:

MEETING: Any gathering where minutes are kept but hours are lost.
Nominated by Roxy Gwynn