is the word workshop. Now, don't misunderstand me, I have no problem with the word when used in its original meaning, as a specific building where manufacture of artifacts takes place. Nor, in the broader sense, do I object to its use in the more metaphorical sense of being a specific place, or time, when two or more people are gathered together to help construct something which may not necessarily be tangible - eg. a writer's workshop. However, I cannot stand the way that the word has been taken hostage into manager-speak to denote any gathering of people where the talk is going to be seemingly endless, and the end result negligible. As my dear father used to say, there are three things in this world which are not to be trusted. One is a man who wears eye shadow and mascara before midday, the second is a dentist in an expensive car, and the third is any corporate training event which calls itself a workshop.