My buddy dropped the term 'delulu' in a serious meeting and nobody blinked

I was on a Zoom call Tuesday afternoon for a project update. My coworker Mark said the client was being 'delulu' about the timeline. I expected HR to pipe up but nobody even reacted. Like the word has fully replaced 'out of touch' in office talk now. Has anyone else noticed corporate slang getting this weird?

2 comments

2 Comments

dianal941mo ago

Actually I gotta push back on this one. "Delulu" is way more specific than "out of touch" because it adds this layer of almost playful self-awareness. When Mark used it he was probably calling out wishful thinking mixed with denial, not just general cluelessness. Corporate speak has always absorbed slang from subcultures, from "synergy" coming out of 90s dotcom mania to "circle back" from military logistics. This is just the same cycle happening with internet lingo. Plus if the word got the point across without anyone needing clarification then it did its job better than some boring corporate term would have. The real question is why people think office language has to stay frozen in some proper version of business English.

jamie_white1mo ago

Gotta hard disagree with @dianal94 on this one. "Delulu" just sounds like throwing internet slang at a meeting because you can't think of a real word for being wrong. If the boss needs the team to stop kidding themselves, just say "you're being optimistic to the point of denial" instead of trying to be clever with TikTok terms nobody asked for. Corporate speak is already annoying enough without adding more made up nonsense.