David Ortiz moments after receiving a leave word call.

“Leave word call,” noun phrase, a form of internal phone message in which the caller doesn’t leave a voicemail; instead he simply leaves a record of his name, extension, date, time called, and number of call attempts.  Usage note:  When employed by a manipulative person, this form of communication is truly vile because it cannot be checked from outside the office, so it can serve as a way for a taskmaster VP (or higher) to keep underlings chained to their desks.  Fortunately, not all firms’ phone systems offer the leave word call (“LWC”) function, an omission that probably cuts costs because LWC recipients have been known to throw their phones and break office equipment in frustration.  A leave-word message is only left for a subordinate, never the other way around.  In theory, leaving such a message for a superior can be done but would be career suicide. Continue reading →