Pentagon-ISM of the week-Socialize

 Pentagon-ISM of the week-Socialize

Okay, in order to get a little humor and life into this blog I have decided to add a "Pentagon-ISM" each week.  This is a word or phrase that you are guaranteed to hear during any given day (and certainly during any given week) during the course of business here at the P-GON.

Drumrollllllllllllllllll...this week's word is 'socialize'.

I overheard this while riding the slow lane on the food court escalator today.  A guy my age in a suit was with a group going down on the opposite direction escalator.  Someone asked him about the status of some project and he replied that he still needed to 'socialize' it with another office. 

Socialize is a great word because it is vague and can mean anything.  Typically it just means to unofficially or casually bring up a topic/issue with a counterpart at another office or agency (or within your own office) in order to gauge their response.  HOWEVER, it's often used in a response to a request for the status of a project or tasker:

 "I've started socializing it with State but haven't heard back" = "Once I am done updating my Facebook status I will start on an email to my counterpart at the State Department..wait, what's the tasker again?"

FUUO's Pentagonisms:

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/11/pgon-ism-of-week-circle-wagons.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/12/pentagon-ism-of-week-bandwidth.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/10/pgon-ism-of-week-missionary-work.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/09/pgonism-of-week-bluf.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/08/pgon-ism-of-week-across-river.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/07/pentagon-ism-of-week-reaching-out.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/07/pentagon-ism-of-week.html

http://famousdc.com/2010/09/03/for-unofficial-use-only/