the.com/businessman
A man who turns meetings into a personality and email into a love language.
means A man who works in commerce or trade, typically at a managerial or executive level, and has somehow made 'circling back' sound like a job description.
from A straightforward compound: 'business' (from Old English 'bisignes,' meaning care, anxiety, or occupation — literally 'busy-ness,' the state of being busy) plus 'man.' The word has been in use since at least the 17th century, originally just meaning a man engaged in commerce, long before it picked up its modern overtones of suits, synergy, and suspiciously long lunches.
- origin
- term barely existed before 19th century capitalism boomed
- uniform
- suit signals trust, despite proving nothing about competence
- linguistic tell
- gender-neutral alternatives exist, yet title persists anyway
- peak usage
- often precedes indictment in news headlines