FYI Disappointed Moms

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

It is what it is regardless of how people feel about the terminology and how people rationalize it. I chose my friends because I like something about them which consists of how my life benefits from being their friend. I don't have any friends who have nothing positive to offer to my life and whose accomplishments/overall life pattern are not in line with mine.

Granted, though I know I have benefited when I have made friends, or at least gotten to know, people who I wouldn't normally consider myself drawn to. It's the "meet the right kind of people" aspect of "networking" as described here that rubs me a bit the wrong way. But I completely get what you're saying. And while I'm sure I unconsciously do it, I just don't think in terms of "networking." For more on why, see below.

Originally Posted by Lightning Bug!

Apologies - I was using it in the sociological/anthropological sense.

No apologies necessary. I recognize that the concept has its place, and that its more academic usage is somewhat different from the more common usage.

My dislike for it comes from three sources:

1) Overuse of the term in business-speak;
2) Overuse of the term in a way that I think reinforces the dynamic I described above; and perhaps most importantly
3) My extreme (and slightly neurotic) dislike of taking nouns like "network" and turning them into verbs. (You'll also never hear me use "impact" as a verb -- the very thought makes me shudder.)

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

3) (You'll also never hear me use "impact" as a verb -- the very thought makes me shudder.)

I don't like it when meteorologists turn the word 'overnight' into a noun. (Ex: We can expect rain during the overnight.) I don't like it.