American business English and Sports

You can read an informative article in USA Today about the heavy use of Sports terminology by American Businesspeople: Do foreign executives balk at sports jargon? Many of the GGU students from foreign countries will likely appreciate the short glossary of sports terms and their use in business discussions found at the end of the article. And native speakers of English may express themselves more clearly to important potential customers and colleagues by removing sports analogies from their speach as much as possible.

As one executive quoted in the article explains, "The Hail Mary is my favorite expression, which doesn't make sense anywhere that isn't football mad. You can establish your American centricity and risk a religious offense at the same time."

The University Library has many electronic books on Intercultural communication which can help students on both ends of the inter-cultural conversation. And the books on Business communication by Roger Axtell make very interesting and enjoyable reading.

(Electronic books are accessible outside of a university building ; Current GGU ID number or Cybercampus ID required. For assistance send e-mail to webster@ggu.edu).