The Week contest: Blunt Phrase - Dec. 11, 2009
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Click here for results of last week's contest: Small Brain
Results: As some companies adopt a “zero tolerance” policy toward gossip, office bluntness is being encouraged. We asked you for a remark we might overhear there. You put it to us this way:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
FIRST PRIZE: The reason I don’t speak up at meetings anymore is that your body odor means I’m forced to breathe through my mouth.
Ellen Hunt, Calabasas, CA
SECOND PRIZE: Who do I have to sleep with to get your job?
Mary Hogan, New York City
THIRD PRIZE: Your old nose was better.
James Lucas Hepokoski, Syracuse, NY
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
You’re too fat to be wearing those pants!
Holly O’Shea, Frederick, MD
When will your bathing strike be over?
Nancy House, Nashville
Your breath could knock a buzzard off a manure wagon.
Reid Robash, Racine, WI
What makes you think I want to see your lunch while you’re chewing it?
Cathy Curtis, Finksburg, MD
You were the last one to use the bathroom but the soap is still dry.
Jeff Schoenwald, Thousand Oaks, CA
Leon, why is it always you? And always in a crowded elevator?
Amy Harr, Riverside, CT
Sam, we’re going to let Mary do this project so we lose less money in the long run.
Brian Rhoads, West Chester, OH
I haven’t cared about your personal life for the last 20 years.
Travix Tymoczko, Mechanicsburg, PA
Guess you forgot whose father is CEO?
Eric E. Wallace, Boise
Why did you unfriend me?
Bob Linfors, Miami
I know you’re a vegan and probably didn’t steal my roast beef sandwich from the fridge, but people do change, you know.
Judith Klein, Frisco, TX
Hey George, I see you and Sally have been eating lunch at the hotel up the street.
Gary Cullen, North Canton, OH
The boss says I can have your office after he fires you tomorrow.
Raymond Smith, Lynn, MA
I heard the boss saying you gossip too much.
Phyliss Shanken, Colmar, PA
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
China: a superpower’s slump
The Explainer After 40 years of explosive growth, China’s economy is now in deep distress — with no turnaround in sight
By The Week Staff Published
-
Retirees’ biggest surprise expense
Feature And more of the week's best financial insight
By The Week Staff Published
-
The United Auto Workers’ strike has put Democrats in a bind
Feature President Biden will have to pick a side in the dispute
By The Week Staff Published