1. Orcalot

    Orcalot Member

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    Need an American word for character being screwed over at work please...

    Discussion in 'Research' started by Orcalot, Jun 9, 2017.

    Character has just discovered her boss is moving her within the company and is trying to dress the move up as a good thing, but character knows he's working to his own agenda.

    would Americans use "shafted"?
    as in......
    She was being shafted, and she fucking knew it.....
    The character in question is the main antagonist, and it's a key scene showing her actual character. I don't want to use "screwed over" because she wouldn't think like that, she's more aggressive. Her actual dialogue in the scene is very controlled and measured because she's a master manipulator, so I want her internal thoughts to be in contrast, hence the need for "shafted".
    She's from south Florida, so maybe there's a southern alternative to "shafted"???
     
  2. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Yeah, shafted is good... the term the employer might use would be "lateral promotion."
     
  3. Dr.Meow

    Dr.Meow Contributor Contributor

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    Well, southerners typically are somewhat diplomatic in most cases, but definitely not internally. If I was in that position, and was trying to be as cordial as possible, internally I would be saying "fucked over". Northerners always think we're the epitome of hospitality, but that's simply because we don't say to your face what we're thinking inside...we wait till you leave and then say it. lol Southerners hate their accents, especially when one of us has a strong one...but that's because those of us that are intelligent know that those with strong accents usually aren't, and are very two-faced (do not trust them, you've been warned. haha). Just a little insight into the culture.

    Shafted would work, but I've never used the word personally, nor do I know any that have. Usually it's "I'm getting fucked in this deal", that sort of thing. "Bent over" might be one, but it doesn't seem to fit too well, I'm not sure. Just never heard the word shafted used is all...
     
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  4. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    shafted, dicked over, fucked over

    Bent over could work, @Dr.Meow , but I agree that it would need some syntactic support for an American audience. I could see a described visual metaphor in play...

    "I hear you're moving over to corporate?" Jill took a sip of her steaming coffee.

    "Yep," Mike replied, monosyllabically.

    "What, not happy about it? It's corporate, man. That's the big time!" Jill smiled nervously feeling her attempt to congratulate Mike going in a strange direction.

    "Yeah, sure,
    the big time." Mike looked Jill squarely in the eye. "I wonder if my new desk will be as comfy as this one when the boss feels like bending me over." Mike pantomimed his words and commenced to a suggestive thrusting.

    Jill's eyes went as big quarters. Unsure where else to go with the failed congratulations, she simply turned and walked to her cubicle.
     
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  5. Earp

    Earp Contributor Contributor

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    I might go with 'hosed'.
     
  6. TWErvin2

    TWErvin2 Contributor Contributor

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    'screwed' or 'screwed over' might work as well.

    It really depends on the person, and the language they use. Not the language they utter, where others might hear, but how they think to themselves, or how they might talk when they believe nobody can hear.
     
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  7. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Idiolect.

    *dorky Wrey runs away* :-D
     
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  8. Dr.Meow

    Dr.Meow Contributor Contributor

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    Oh no you don't... :catches you with a net:

    Now that I think about it, screwed might actually work. Not screwed over, because the over is implied.
     
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  9. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Where cushions are comfy, and straps hold firm.
    And if you don't mind the harsher vernacular: Fucked
    Taken for a ride, is a bit of a lengthy way of saying screwed.
    Played, is another one that can be used in lieu of screwed as well.
     
  10. Lewdog

    Lewdog Come ova here and give me kisses! Supporter Contributor

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    Thrown under the bus... is the new phrase being used these days. Well at least that's what the cool kids say. :superidea:
     
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  11. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    I've always been partial to "cornholed" too... it has that extra layer of lewdness without being technically profane... and there's juuuust enough people who don't know what it means to make their change of expression priceless when someone explains it too them.
     
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  12. EdFromNY

    EdFromNY Hope to improve with age Supporter Contributor

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    When it happened to me, I believe the phrase I used was "fucked over by that phony Ivy-league piece of shit and utter waste of DNA". But I'm paraphrasing.

    Oh, and I was much more pleasant when I got even with him.
     
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  13. newjerseyrunner

    newjerseyrunner Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    I might call it getting a non-promotion. It's not the same as demotion, but not really a good thing either.
     
  14. Laurin Kelly

    Laurin Kelly Contributor Contributor

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    I once said to my boss, "I'm not getting fucked over by that giant man-baby, who seems to think he's charming the world with his 'lovable fuckup' bullshit routine." I made grotesquely exaggerated finger-quotes in the air on the "lovable fuckup" part for added flair.
     
  15. EdFromNY

    EdFromNY Hope to improve with age Supporter Contributor

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    Added points for the finger-quotes. :D
     
  16. matwoolf

    matwoolf Banned Contributor

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    I believe Americans might say 'I was motherfuckered in the office environment.' That way speech has a relateable North American twang. 'Shafted' is more cockney, a coal to my ear.

    Willie Lomax strides into his parlour. He flings a briefcase toward the chest of his three-year old daughter, loosens his tie, and passes it to an infant son.

    'Go play kids.'

    Mable wears her pinny. The apple pie steams in her oven. The pie consumes her mind, yet she must attend to her husband's despair.

    'Make me a fuckin drink,' he says and slumps at the table.

    'Here you are my prince,' she says.

    He gulps, 'those motherfuckers fuckers fucked me over fuckin fuck I been motherfucked again. Again and again fuckin fuck motherfuck!'

    Mable wipes his brow.

    'Who darling, was it the gaseoline attendant, the burger waitress?'

    'No, you stupid woman, the motherfucker Winston Perriwinkle and his fucking five year corporation plan motherfucker fuck.'

    'Oh,' she mews, 'but we are fucked,' she says.
     
  17. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    probably need to use 'fuck' more often to be realistic
     
  18. Orcalot

    Orcalot Member

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    God bless Homer - never ceases to make me smile
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2017
  19. Orcalot

    Orcalot Member

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    Oh my poor little Irish Cathonlic ears!!!! When I lived in Boston those lovely Harvard boys never spoke like that!! Lord almighty!!

    I joined this forum because they said there were lots of nice people and we would all help each other on our creative writing journey,
    but now I'm beginning to think I've been fucked over.
    :eek:
     
  20. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Mmmm.... Maybe this phrase has been subject to functional shift, but to me this means getting blamed for something you did not do, or being made a scapegoat when you aren't the only one to blame.
     
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  21. Stormsong07

    Stormsong07 Contributor Contributor

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    I've said "dicked over", "thrown under the bus", "fucked over" ...
    Also, though this was more of a military thing, was BOHICA. (bow-hee-ka) Means "Bend Over, Here It Comes Again". Used like this:

    "And until everything is cleaned up and taken care of," said the boss, "no one will go home tonight. Mandatory overtime for everyone!"
    I met my coworker's eyes and sighed. "BOHICA!" I said with a shrug.
     
  22. Orcalot

    Orcalot Member

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    yeah I'd take "thrown under the bus" as being made a scapegoat as opposed to being out-manoeuvred at work.
    I was just curious to see if American's actually used "shafted".
     
  23. Lewdog

    Lewdog Come ova here and give me kisses! Supporter Contributor

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    I've seen many people say they are being thrown under the bus simply when they are being screwed over, not just being made as the scapegoat.
     
  24. archer88i

    archer88i Banned Contributor

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    I'll have you know, I love a good chance to throw my accent around.
     
  25. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    We used it all the time in the early 1970s, usually in the context where someone expects something good and unexpectedly gets something awful instead. Now, I don't know.

    I'd use it or the other suggested terms only if the worker in question was made to think she was going to get a real promotion and worked hard to get the real promotion, but got pushed sideways instead. (Mere soulless corporate rearranging wouldn't count.) Extra points if the new position has lower pay and fewer perks, or if there's somebody who got the promotion instead because they stole credit for the angry employee's work. Or if the division they're sending her to is a kind of corporate Siberia with no advancement opportunities At All.

    I take it the boss is moving the worker to get rid of her or to deprive her of some opportunity or whatever?
     

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