Transatlantic Jargon

[dave068]

Several times lately I've heard the curious expression 'pushing the envelope'. What on earth is this supposed to refer to? Is this more rubbish-speak like 'blue sky thinking', which must refer to day dreaming, or 'at the end of the day' when they don't mean bedtime. David Cameron is heard to utter 'not on my watch' and he's not even in the Navy! I think our Colonial brothers across the Pond are responsible for all this mangling of the English language and it should not be to allowed to continue.
Have a nice day......oopps, sorry.
Cheers chaps, TTFN.

[Everhelpful]

I know what you mean,where I worked messages weren't "passed" on they had to be "Cascaded" down,really peed me off!!.

[J9PUR]

It's similar to 'pushing the boundaries'

In aerodynamics, the flight envelope, service envelope, or performance envelope of an aircraft refers to the capabilities of a design in terms of airspeed and load factor or altitude. When a plane is pushed, for instance by diving it at high speeds, it is said to be flown "outside the envelope", something considered rather dangerous.

[lady-janine]

isn't blue sky thinking what chemists, scientists and physicysts do?

[douglas9401]

A yes, 'wake up call', 'new lease on life', 'fannypack', 'al Keeda', 'Newkewlur'.

Very inventive, but wrong.

[Zeuhl]

Without wishing to defend 'gobbledegook' these phrases often express nuances and meanings that are subtly but significantly different to what appears to be their predecessors

Like any jargon, they begin as primarily inclusive terms in the sense that they mean something distinctive and differentiating to people in the user group even when they seem silly to outsiders

As one example, 'pushing the envelope' is similar to but different to 'pushing the boundaries' 'Boundaries' tend to be arbitrary man-made limits whereas 'the envelope' was an environmental limit - so when the original aerospace engineers and pilots went beyond flight regulations or procedural limits they may have been described as 'pushing the boundaries'

When they challenged the operational capabilities of an aircraft they were 'pushing the envelope'

[Zeuhl]

P.S.

the original 'envelope' they were pushing

is an area on a graphic chart where maths calculations have produced plots of curves and lines which describe the outside parameters (limitations) of something

[heathfield]

"pushing the envelope" or "pushing the boundaries" means "increasing the operating capabilities of a technological system", or, "exceeding the existing limits in a certain field". Where there are nuances and meanings that are subtly different to what went before, there is still no reason why they cannot be expressed just as well in plain English. This is a matter dealt with by Sir Ernest Gowers in his book "The Complete Plain Words", published in 1964, and still in print. For years now I've been of the opinion that his book should be made compulsory reading in schools. It's worth a browse, and, as luck would have it, it can be read online at...

http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/gowerse/complete/

[Zeuhl]

^

But why would you want to?

It's an aspect of human creativity to create new ways of expressing ideas
'pushing the envelope' is no less 'plain' than 'pushing the boundaries' - it's just different

As long as an expression does the job of communicating why place arbitrary restrictions on it?

[andy-hughes]

the first person I heard using the phrase 'on my watch' was the outgoing Controller of radio Two re. the Sachsgate scandal.

Since then, almost every talking head in the media seems to dredge it up - probably because it evokes the idea of being kept safe by a politician.

i know I know - i didn't said it had to be truthful!!

[heathfield]

If 'pushing the envelope' is no less 'plain' than 'pushing the boundaries', then why is Dave having to ask us what it is supposed to refer to?

[society]

dave068 is also TTFN?

[dave068]

Well, there you are then, what was meant as a light-hearted jibe at the US of A has turned out to be worthy of a Panorama program. Heaven forbid!

[jno]

such a nuisance when you don't get the answer you expect, especially when they're detailed, well informed and accurate!

[dzug2]

.. it should not be to allowed to continue. ...

How would you propose to stop it? Some form of language thought police?