Illegal words, here are the ones that nobody can tell us at work

The words we speak and write often have consequences that we struggle to imagine. Yes, it is not uncommon to ask “what have I ever said?” in the face of the pain or anger of a person with whom we are interacting. And it happens to us in different communication contexts: in the family, with friends, on social networks and at work. Anyone who wants to use a language effectively should be aware of how much (and how) this language is contributes to the construction of our social relationships, an element no less important than grammatical norms in our linguistic competence; as Victoria Trubnikova and Benedetta Garofolin suggest in their recent Language and interaction (ETS), it would make sense to introduce these issues – and the discipline that deals with them, the pragmatic – also in teaching Italian at school.

It is also necessary to know that, especially in some contexts, including the professional one, not everything can be said with impunity. And it is not just a question of etiquette: certain words and – to put it in a technical term – certain sentences are not acceptable in an office and the law foresees consequences when they take shape, especially in certain ways.

“To assess the legitimacy or otherwise of phrases or words pronounced in the workplace, it is always necessary to consider a series of variables: the context, the moment, the nature and intensity of the relationships between the speaker and the listener and the possible presence of other people, the frequency with which certain phrases or words are said ”explains Gionata Cavallini, a labor lawyer specializing in the protection of workers.

Of course, a first important discourse concerns precisely the relationship between the people who interact: «between colleagues of the same level one can probably afford more freedom than with a subordinate, with respect to whom even the“ joke ”can end up being mortifying». Yes, this is because it is known that, also with regard to language, we develop different expectations depending on the person we are dealing with; thus, the exact same sentence uttered by a friend or a boss – think of an order like “come on, move” – ​​can have very different emotional reactions in us.

Here, but given that there are certain things that no one at work can tell us (and you can find them in the gallery at the beginning of the article), there is still a problem with how to gather evidence. In professional emails, and in general for everything that is written, it is understandably easier, but for oral sentences it becomes more complicated. And Cavallini, in fact, confirms that in practice “it is often very difficult to prove that Tizio is used to insult Caio heavily or make sexist comments about Sempronia”.

But let’s imagine that, for example thanks to a recording, it can be shown that you have received sentences that are punishable by law; what are the risks of those who uttered them in practice? “In our system, unlike in the US, there is no punitive damage (punitive damages), therefore the injured party has the difficult task of proving the existence of compensable damage, which is often not recognized despite the ascertainment of the illegality of the conduct of the company or its managers “.

Attention, this does not mean that we must give up when a boss addresses us phrases like those you find in gallery, but be aware that the path to sanctioning may involve a lot of energy.

(In the photo a scene from the series Will & Grace, in which Karen often addresses harsh words to collaborator Rosario).