Everyday Office Jargon · Vice President level

"Watch paint dry"

"Watch paint dry" is an expression used to describe a task or process that is extremely slow, uneventful, or tedious to sit through.

Say this instead: a boring task

How "Watch paint dry" shows up at work

Reaches for this phrase when something is moving at the pace of an enterprise procurement cycle. Heard in post-mortems and all-hands alike, usually as the only honest sentence in an otherwise optimistic update.

Buzzword

Waiting for legal to sign off on this is like watching paint dry.

Plain English

Waiting for legal to sign off on this is painfully slow.

Corporate Rank: Vice President · Category: Everyday Office Jargon

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